Five days after Hurricane Ida ravaged the five boroughs, Lady Moo Moo Ice Cream in Bedford-Stuyvesant is finally up and running. When the storm brought heavy flooding to the city, owner Steve Lipschutz says there was little he could do to protect his shop.

“You can’t really prepare for that. Short of taking everything out of the basement before the storm, there’s nothing you can do,” he explained.

Lipschutz says he thought Lady Moo Moo would be safe from the storm since the shop isn’t located in what's previously been a heavy flood zone. And because of that, he didn’t have flood insurance.

“When our chef got here in the morning he started to send me photographs and said, ‘You need to get here as fast as possible,’” Lipschutz said.

Lipschutz says he was shocked by what he saw. His water heater destroyed, boxes of files completely soaked, and 300-pound coolers floating like boats in three feet of water. He immediately got to work, clearing out the basement. 

“It took about three days to get back to where we could see a clean floor again," Lipschutz said.

Even with most of the water and debris cleared, Lipschutz says he was still at a loss with no idea how to bounce back from the storm.

“So I called my wife basically in tears ‘cause all our stuff is destroyed and she said, ‘Why don’t you start a Go Fund Me?’”

That’s exactly what he did and in a matter of days, he surpassed his goal of $10,000.

“All of a sudden, within hours, the funds just started pouring in. Even today it hasn’t really sunk in,” Lipschutz said. “The amount of community support is unbelievable.”

Looking forward, Lipschutz says he’s doing what he can to protect his shop from the next big storm. 

“Wasn’t prepared, but you gotta put your head down, pull your boots up and make it happen,” Lipschutz said.