Fish guts flowing down a Union Square street. Untreated sewage in the Hudson River. Spoiled Haagen-Dazs dumped on a deli floor. Toilets that won’t flush.

Superstorm Sandy has left a mess behind in a city never exactly known for its cleanliness.

NBC News reports that in Manhattan, as power remained out for many customers below 39th street, Rod Zindani, owner of the Best of New York deli on Water St., stood by large plastic trash bags filled with melted single-serve tubs of Haagen-Dazs ice cream. “That’s $1,000 to $1,500 worth.”

It’s all got to go.

“Everybody’s throwing out food. All the cooked short ribs, cooked pork, salsas had to go,” said Alfredo Vicuna, the head of kitchen at Tortaria, near Union Square in lower Manhattan. “It will stay good for about 24 hours, but after it got above 40 degrees, we can’t use it. I don’t even want to think about how much we had to throw out. It’s not nice to see. The boss is literally crying right now about how much we lost.”

Nearby, Carlos Solorzano watched a restaurant worker in a white chef’s coat hose away fish guts left behind in the street by sanitation workers. Along the curb, a tiny river of pink liquid, sprinkled with fish bones, blue and red octopus parts and bits of mackerel, flowed away.

CNN Money reports Frits de Knegt, owner of Jerry’s Cafe in lower Manhattan said if power comes back by week’s end, he’ll lose $50,000.

He has decided to pay his workers at least partially, even though Jerry’s remains closed. While on the phone hearing about the damage, he considers simply closing or selling the place instead. Then he pauses.

“These people have families to feed,” he said of his 26 workers. “A week out of work is devastating to these people. I think about when I was in their shoes, when I was a young man working for somebody.”