By Gary Dymski

No sooner did I step through the doorway of the tool rental department at The Home Depot in South Setauket than the man behind the counter said: "If you're looking for submersible pumps, we're all out."

This was a couple of weeks ago, when rainstorms and melting snow deposited water into many Long Island basements. Tool rental centers were deluged with customers looking to pump out their basements. "It was crazy here," said Ed Mondini, owner of Gold Star Rental in Centereach. "Pumps were coming and going pretty quick. As fast as people returned them, we sent them out again."