Flooding costs some Corridor businesses

Video by Kelsey Kremer,The Gazette.

Jeff Melsha has owned Little Bohemia long enough to know he should get moving when the waters start rising.

Melsha's owned the restaurant at 1317 Third St. SE in the, New Bo District, for 30 years and has been down this road before - in 1993 and in 2008.

So when talks of flooding started again this past week, he turned the kitchen into storage, moving everything from the building's basement into the space. This decision forced him to close the kitchen for three days - costing him business and his employees work.

He also spent $100 to rent a pump in case the basement took on any water.

"I'm so glad that we dodged a bullet," he said, adding that the Cedar River would have to crest at 21 feet before Little Bohemia would really start taking on water.

Natural disasters can leave behind a large economic impact. Not only do they damage or destroy property, they also disrupt economic activity and force business owners to take on additional costs.

Sue Riedl, owner of Kidworks and Houseworks on the corner of Stevens Drive and Gilbert Street in Iowa City, decided to pack up both her stores and move into a temporary location at Sycamore Mall.

Not only is she renting two additional storefronts, she also had to close up shop for one week, pay a moving company to transport her goods and increase her payroll for staffers to pack, unpack and set up.

"It was a colossal expense," she said. "We probably tripled our payroll this week."

Riedl said she's unsure how long she'll keep her businesses in the mall, but she added that she'd rather be safe than sorry.

"The threat of flooding is receding, but there's no telling what will happen this summer," she said.

That was the opinion Al Pierson of Pierson's Flower and Greenhouses, 1800 Ellis Blvd. NW in Cedar Rapids, took as well.

He invested $100,000 after the 2008 Flood to combat situations like last week. He bought portable display coolers, a portable boiler to heat his greenhouse and ripped up the carpet to make his business movable in a moment's notice.

"We rebuilt with the idea that we will be flooded again," he said.

Luckily, he had no damage to his store this time and still had a fair amount of customers over the weekend - in spite of Ellis Boulevard being closed.

"One lady walked a few blocks to get here," he said.

Jeff Mumm, owner of Dostal Catering in the Czech Village, also invested heavily in movable equipment after the 2008 Flood. Mumm said that everything except his walk-in freezer could be loaded into a truck or trailer in case he need to evacuate.

He lined up four trailers, several vans, 20 volunteers and a refrigerated trailer last week when the city started putting sandbags outside his store, but ended up not needing to use them.

Some low-lying Corridor businesses didn't see much of a financial dent at all.

Tony Bata, owner of Bata's Restaurant in the New Bo area, said the only additional expense he had was buying a few sump pumps to take care of a bit of groundwater flooding the basement.While Maja Hunt, co-owner of Every Bloomin' Thing in Iowa City, said she found the experience a minor  inconvenience, and had to conduct business out of her home for a few days. 

"They told us to leave on Friday (May 31)," she said, adding they packed up her flower shop into a trailer purchased after the 2008 Flood. "We have an evacuation plan now - the outlets were moved up, everything is five feet off the ground."

By Thursday, the only concern Hunt had was finishing the centerpieces and bouquets for three weddings set for this weekend.