Everything is going to be fine — Katz’s pastrami has survived.
Houston Street is back open Friday after being shut down due to a water main break that flooded Houston between Allen and Essex streets. The iconic Katz’s Delicatessen stayed open despite flooding in the basement.
“It’s a nightmare down there, the basement got completely flooded, destroyed everything in its path,” Katz owner Jake Dell told NBC News.
But the deli remained open Thursday and Friday, despite a reported three feet of mud, according to Gothamist.
“It looks like a war zone,” Dell told Gothamist. “Any crack you didn’t think was there had water coming out. It was unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”
Katz’s posted a picture on their Instagram account of their famous pastrami, which survived the flooding.
But other businesses in the area were shut down by the flooding. The general manager of Lobster Joint, located next door to Katz’s, Alex Linomontes told The Wall Street Journal that they are “out of business” from the flooding damage. “We still have bills to pay, and there are hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage.”
The 20-inch water main, built in 1959, broke just before 11 a.m. on Thursday, and water was shut off shortly after the break to stop the leak. Five commercial buildings and eight residential buildings were without water on Thursday, and a total of four businesses reported flooding had to be pumped out, the Department of Environmental Protection said on Friday.
Water was restored in all the buildings late Thursday night, DEP spokesman Chris Gilbride said. There’s no indication of the cause, but the pipe has been repaired, Gilbride said. Traffic was diverted Thursday evening and Friday onto Allen Street.
