The Anne Arundel Economic Development Corp. recently awarded $647,095 in grant money to 21 small businesses in and around Anne Arundel County that were affected by the record-breaking flooding the area sustained on Oct. 29 and 30.

Of those 21 businesses, 18 were in Anne Arundel County, with the other three on the Eastern Shore. Each business could receive up to $50,000 in state funding provided to the AAEDC from the Video Lottery Terminal Disaster Recovery Relief Program, or VOLT, to help with damages and economic setbacks from having to close during repairs, according to a news release.

“We saw a lot of equipment damage. There were refrigerators that, once the salt water gets into the machinery, they don’t work anymore, a lot of appliances. We did cover some loss of income if they were closed and we covered some inventory as well,” said Steve Primosch, AAEDC vice president of finance.

YogaVibez in Edgewater had to close for two days due to the flooding, which ruined some of its equipment.

“Most of the physical damage was some warped doors, things like that structurally, but then we lost quite a bit of our yoga props and two tables, so all in all not a huge amount of stuff got damaged. It was a lot more time intensive in the cleanup,” YogaVibez owner Kate Grove said.

Grove said some of the grant money also went toward paying crews to clean up. She said the grant was the only assistance she received as she didn’t feel it would be worthwhile to involve insurance.

For another business affected by the flooding, Storm Bros. Ice Cream Factory in downtown Annapolis, the grant changed its entire fate. Owner Sveinn Storm seriously contemplated selling the business for the first time in his 45 years of operating it until he got the grant.

“For the first time ever, I thought, ‘I’m going to sell out. I’m done. Stick a fork in me. I’ll just sell it to someone and be done with it,’ and I love the business,” Storm said. “The grant made a huge difference. I would have definitely closed through the winter, and I would have lost all my employees because they would have had to go find other work. There is no way I would have made it as far as I am now.”

Storm said he used the money to pay employees and bills, replace equipment like freezers and cabinets, and clean the store. He had to close the business for 14 days due to the damage.

The money from the AAEDC was the only assistance Storm got to help after the flooding, he said. His flood insurance didn’t cover anything because part of the flooding damage was due to the nearby drain being backed up as a result of ground water, something his insurance company, Selective Insurance Company of America, doesn’t cover.

“So you’re forced to have these insurances. I have to have flood insurance for my mortgage,” he said. “But it’s absolutely worthless.”

Storm, who got about $35,000 from the grant, said he didn’t list all the expenses the flooding cost the business — like cleanup labor — thinking and being told initially, before the insurer reviewed the claim, that he would be covered.

But the grant money Storm did receive, combined with savings he had stashed away for the winter, helped him get through.

“Those people with the grant, they were the bomb,” he said. “That was the best experience I had with the government ever. They seemed to genuinely care.”

Storm said he’s especially happy he’ll be able to continue operating the business himself for his family.

“I have six kids and 11 grandkids. You want these things to continue and help your grandkids to get their education and be able to buy their first homes and things like that,” he said.

Grove agreed the AAEDC’s help was meaningful.

“It was so heart-wrenching to go through the flooding, to watch your studio be underwater and watch stuff get damaged, have to shut down,” she said, adding that grant “was just that bright light that just made a really difficult time so much better to manage, knowing that we have support from the community.”

Giving out grants to small businesses isn’t a role the AAEDC used to take on to this extent. The organization is mainly geared toward helping local businesses grow. But between the flooding, the tornado on Sept. 1 from Tropical Depression Ida and COVID-19, the organization has practically become a grant-giving machine.

“We never did any types of these relief grants previously. We had some very targeted stuff that we did but definitely not on this scale and definitely not with this immediacy. It’s been interesting,” Primosch said.

“While the programs are different, there’s a difference between COVID and a natural disaster, there’s a lot of the same things you see from the business owners — it’s something they didn’t expect, something they didn’t plan for and most of the time they don’t have the money set aside for these events. That’s why these programs are so important.”

Though it isn’t exactly the gig Primosch signed up for, he said it’s been gratifying to be in a position to help.

“When I signed up for this job, I was a banker. I’m used to doing small-business loans, but being able to help people when they’re in need has been really fulfilling. This is the stuff you watch on TV and say, ‘Wow, all these businesses are being affected by COVID or being flooded.’ And you can actually go out there and meet with them, talk to them, find out about the damages and help them.”