LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A Lexington business is closed for at least the rest of the week.
“You go through the panic mode of, ‘Oh my gosh this happened’. Then you kind of go, it is what it is. You deal with it and roll with it,” said Russell Battaglia, the owner of A+ Comics and Collectibles II.
“Yep, that one’s going to be ruined. That’s going to be an expensive piece.”
Battaglia assesses the damage at his store. He walked into the location on N Locust Hill Drive Wednesday morning. That’s when he noticed many boxes were discolored, each holding 300 comic books.
“It was moist, it was wet. And I was like, ‘Oh uh’. I looked around and that’s when I saw the flood.”
Kentucky American Water have been on the scene since the unfortunate discovery. Battaglia said they believe there was a break in a pipe behind in the back of the store. But in this weather, it may take more digging to get to the bottom of it.
“It was like a lake. They built a dam to stop the water coming down the back of the building, and the moment they did that, the water stopped coming into the store. Not only do they have to address the break in the pipe, but they’ve got to find it and they’ve got to fix it.”
And there’s added concern with more snow on the way.
“Hopefully they can find it and get it fixed before all that happens. The question is, once all this snow melts, having that water rush back through here behind the building. Will that cause another problem?”
The small business owner said they’ve lost product and sales. But for Battaglia, he’s more worried about the community he’s built.
“We had several customers who I literally made phone calls to because I knew they would be here Wednesday morning as soon as the store opened to get their stuff. And you know, I didn’t want to disappoint anybody.”
But Battaglia hopes his customers won’t have to wait too long.
Depending on Friday’s weather event, Battaglia is hoping to reopen this location next Wednesday. But the location on Southland Drive is still open in the meantime.
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