State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie joined Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle and State Assemblyman Harry Bronson for a tour of lakefront businesses like Silk O'Laughlins in Irondequoit, which has been closed for months because of flood damage from Lake Ontario.
Owner Mike McKeon says the water started coming into the building the first week in May, and they've been closed ever since.
"Well, we're just waiting for it to go down a little more so we can fix things and hope this doesn't happen again in the future," he said.
Now the building is gutted, and he says he's just waiting for the water to continue to recede, so he can clean everything up and rebuild.
"I have hopes of, hopefully being open by football season," he said.
Speaker Heastie says he's grateful Majority Leader Joe Morelle worked with the Senate and the Governor to come up with a state aid package for those impacted by the flooding.
"To not only help the homeowners that have been affected by these rising waters but the businesses as well. And like I said, I feel for him, and I think I'll try to come back up when he opens back up to help him get running again," he said.
Heastie says his message to fellow lawmakers in Albany is to be mindful with resources and ideas to help people recover from things like this.
"And maybe structurally protect places because we'll never know when the next storm is coming. But if we can be better prepared structurally we might be more helpful (so) he doesn't have to close his business for months," he said.
Earlier this month, Gov. Cuomo signed legislation that will provide $45 million dollars in aid to communities impacted by Lake Ontario flooding, and another $10 million going to counties for damage from other storms.