Riverhead library is still dealing with flood damage

The staff
at the Riverhead Free Library has been forced to cancel or relocate
many of its programs as it continues to cope with flood damages from
last month’s rainstorm.

Library officials are urging the public
to call the library at (631) 727-3228 and press ‘0’ for the public
information desk to find out if particular programs are still running,
and where.

“We’ve had a number of programs move to the senior
center in Aquebogue, and also [Cornell Cooperative Extension]; they’ve
been wonderful,” said library director Lisa Jacobs. “We’re holding
stuff in our childrens’ program room. We’re sort of
making it work, little by little.”

“The hard part is that we don’t know when
it’s going to be fixed,” she continued. “We had basically standing water for about three
or four days during the height of the storm, the week of March 29.”

At
it’s worst, about three to four inches of water covered the basement,
where the library boasts two meeting rooms, a staff lounge and space
for art exhibits, Ms. Jacobs said.

“We were just pumping,
pumping, pumping and not winning the battle,” she said of the cleanup
efforts, while also crediting the custodial staff. “ServPro [cleanup company] has come in
and taken out all the carpets and taken out sheet rock and insulation,”
she said. “They partially dismantled the stage.

“We’re lucky that
we didn’t have mechanical equipment that was damaged, but it was still
fairly substantial and we don’t know yet if we’re going to get any
coverage from our insurance company.”

The library underwent a $4.6 million renovation about 10 year ago.

MICHAEL WHITE