Businesses can get assistance finding temporary office space, help filing insurance claim, getting power back and clearing roads and can be put into contact with the U.S. Small Business Administration and whatever other federal help materializes.
Dozens of businesses along Main Street in the South End of Springfield were severely damaged by Wednesday's tornadoes. Allan W. Blair, president of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, estimated that at least 30 South End businesses were destroyed.SPRINGFIELD – Help, including temporary office space, is available for tornado-ravaged businesses, but problems with phones, cellular signals and power are keeping businesses from coming forward.
“The people who need the most help are the least able to get into contact with us,” Gregory P. Bialecki, state secretary of housing and economic development, said Friday during a conference call where he urged local chambers of commerce to compile lists of impacted businesses.
Getting businesses up and running as soon as possible is an important part of the region’s recovery, he said.
“We are doing this all on the fly. ... I am not going to pretend otherwise,” Bialecki said.
Allan W. Blair, president of the Economic Development Council of Western Massachusetts, estimated that at least 30 businesses were destroyed in Springfield’s South End alone. The neighborhood, like the hard-hit Merrick neighborhood in West Springfield, was home to older buildings long subdivided into offices and small shops.
“A lot of professionals, insurance sales, architects, consultants,” Blair said.
Alexandra McNitt, executive director of the Chamber of Central Mass South in Sturbridge, said there are stretches of Route 20 in Brimfield that are devastated.
“We have very scanty details,” she said.
Bialecki, who plans to tour the South End on Monday, said his department will have representatives available to business owners at the “one-stop” center the state is establishing at the state Department of Transitional Assistance Office 95 Liberty St. in Springfield and at the Department of Developmental Service Central/West Regional Office, 171 State Avenue, Palmer.
There, businesses can get assistance finding temporary office space, help filing insurance claim, getting power back and clearing roads and can be put into contact with the U.S. Small Business Administration and whatever other federal help materializes.
The Scibelli Enterprise Center, located in the Springfield Technical Community College Technology Park just outside the damage zone, is available as temporary office space, said Marla S. Michel, director of the center.