Businesses already in the midst of a difficult economy face a long and slow road to recovery in the aftermath of Rhode Island’s worst flooding in at least a century, state officials said last week.

“Any way you slice it it’s going to have an economic impact,” Gov. Donald L. Carcieri said at a news conference on April 1.

Carcieri said state officials were still tallying the damages from a storm that dumped more than 7.5 inches in Providence on March 29 and March 30 alone, according to the National Weather Service. The rainfall on both days shattered records and soaked the state for the second time in three weeks.

R.I. Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Keith W. Stokes told Providence Business News he expected hundreds of jobs to be affected as businesses mopped up from the flooding or employees remained stranded by flood waters. Stokes said that as of April 1, EDC officials were already fielding calls from anxious business owners looking for help.

Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy said the state’s congressional delegation last week was lobbying federal officials and President Barack Obama for assistance.

“If there was a part of the country that needed federal support, it’s Rhode Island,” Kennedy said. “We were in the economic storm before anyone else. We’ve been in it longer than everyone else, and now we’ve been hit by a different type of storm.”

The latest storm hit Cranston, Warwick and West Warwick particularly hard. The Pawtuxet River crested on March 31 at 20.79 feet – a record for a river whose flood stage is 9 feet. Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian estimated as many as 100 businesses were affected by flooding, including the 70 in the flooded Warwick Mall. Officials ordered evacuations, opened shelters and closed numerous roads in Warwick and throughout the state, including a segment of Interstate 95 that was closed for two days before reopening April 1.

“I’ve lived on the banks of the Pawtuxet all my life, and I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Avedisian said.

Flooding along the Blackstone River reached levels last seen during Hurricane Connie and Tropical Storm Diane in 1955 and flooded businesses in Cumberland.

Avedisian said Warwick’s Economic Development Department was working to help businesses find temporary space and ultimately help them reopen. Avedisian said the biggest worry remained the mall, a major source of employment and retail activity in the city.

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