Carol Verdi (r.) and Shonta Lee clean up Angels on the Bay office after flood from break-in at Howard Beach Sovereign Bank.
They stole money — and they broke children's hearts.
The burglars who pulled off the brazen heist of a Howard Beach bank vault over the Easter weekend did more than just walk off with an estimated $400,000 in cash and jewelry.
The thieves also created a watery disaster at an adjacent center for disabled children en route to smashing their way into the Sovereign Bank.
"This is mind-boggling," Carol Verdi, manager of Angels on the Bay Evaluation Center, said last week as she struggled to come to grip with the destruction.
In an attempt to wash away evidence, the resourceful crooks clogged the center's sink and turned on the faucet, flooding the entire office in 2 feet of water.
The deluge destroyed a host of important files, seven computers and a collection of precious keepsakes — and left a soggy mess that could take more than two weeks to clean up.
"It's devastating — not just for the loss of the things that were in there but because of the impact this is having," Verdi said. "We are unable to serve the children we are supposed to serve."
The center, run by the nonprofit HeartShare Human Services of New York, provides testing for children, ages 3 to 5, who are suspected of having a mental or physical disability.
They are referred by the city Education Department, and as many as 15 children are evaluated per week, Verdi said.
While cleanup crews removed soaked Sheetrock from the center's walls late last week, Verdi searched for temporary accommodations.
Even if she finds a short-term alternative, she still faces a serious problem — most of the center's diagnostic equipment was ruined.
But other losses were even more heartbreaking. The thieves busted into the bank's vault through a concrete wall that they accessed via one of the evaluation center's closets.
That closet was full of valuable donated items that Angels on the Bay had planned to raffle off at its main fund-raiser, a dinner-dance scheduled for May.
Three crystal vases were smashed and other donations — coffee and tea gift bags, stationary sets, portable DVD players, Dolce & Gabbana women's handbags — were drenched.
"It's all stuff we had to toss," Verdi said, adding that she is hoping that people will come forward to help the organization.
One loss could never be replaced. Floating in the water was a slide show collection of every student educated at the organization's three Queens schools over the past 26 years.
"It was very depressing and disheartening to see that," Verdi said. "It was the history of our school."
