Flooding, more rain boost business

CELINA - After the recent flooding and the weekend's heavy rains, local businesses have plenty of customers seeking to clean up and prepare for possibly more water.

Don Baumstark, general manager at Celina's Menards, said his store has been packed with people needing sump pumps and generators.

"Right now people are still pretty much in the preventive mode," he said. "They're coming in for sump pumps and generators that will run those in case the electric goes out. People really haven't even gotten to the cleaning stages yet."

The area already has broken the record for the wettest June, local weatherman Dennis Howick said this morning. With two days left in the month, 12.01 inches of rain has already fallen and more is expected today and Tuesday. The previous record was 8.48 inches of rain set in 1958.

Baumstark said most sump pumps can't keep up with the constant work.
"They'll burn out," he said. "So people are looking to replace those or looking to add an additional one. They're setting those down right next to the one they already have and running a hose outside."

He advised customers taking that approach to get a hose long enough to get the water as far away from the house as possible.

"A hose that is 50 to 100 feet long is a good idea," Baumstark said.

More customers also are buying pump alarms, he said.

"We sell ones that have a loud-sounding alarm like those on smoke alarms, all the way to ones that will text you on your smart phone," Baumstark said. "That way you can go to work, but if an issue arises, you'll know it."

He said customers also are looking to buy sandbags, shop vacuums and window-well covers.

"If rain gets caught in the window wells and people have wood windows on the inside, that rain is going to start rotting the wood," Baumstark said. "So a lot of people are looking for the covers to keep that from happening."

Once the rain stops, Baumstark said he anticipates customers will need supplies to control mold.

"If you let the water stay underneath the carpet for even a short time, you're going to have to replace just about everything, including the drywall and insulation," he said. "People just don't realize how quickly mold can take over. We have supplies for it but we're also prepared for the ones that are going to need drywall and other items."

Lori Roher, co-owner of Rainbow Carpet cleaning service, said her company brought in an extra truck last week to help customers remove from 2 inches to 3 feet of water from basements. Most of those customers were from the Coldwater area.

"I don't think we're going to catch up for another two weeks," she said. "Coldwater got hit bad. It's been all basements that we're getting water out of but it's kept us busy."

Mark Winkeljohn, a sales representative at B&B House of Carpet in Celina, said his shop has been replacing carpets in flooded basements around the county.

"We want to get there as early as we can so we don't have issues with mold and mildew," he said. "If that happens, it's just bad news."

Andrew Kraner, assistant manager at Ace Hardware in Celina, said he's helped many customers seeking to dry out their basements.

"I have had a couple of calls wanting to know about clean-up services in the area," Kraner said.

Mercer County Commissioners on June 17 declared a state of emergency due to flooding. Coldwater officials made a similar declaration. The declarations allow residents to seek state assistance but county emergency management agency director Mike Robbins said no one has called his office requesting help.

"I think it's extremely true that we Mercer County residents are a very resilient group of people," Robbins said. "We either help ourselves or we help our neighbors."

Several resources are available, he said.

"The Red Cross had some items to help residents with flooding issues but we only had a few come in and pick things up or request them," Robbins said. "We did have some asking for sandbags to shore up their basement windows and doorways."

Nicole Butcher, an agent with Alan Davis Insurance in St. Marys, said her office had received numerous claims, mostly involving flooded basements.

"We need to determine whether or not the water is coming from flooding or from water backup," she said.

Flooding is when water seeps into a home through a window or doorway, Butcher said, while backup comes from water overflowing a sump pump and seeping through the walls.

Policies handle those situations separately, she said.

"You can have flood insurance but if you don't have the backup insurance you may not be covered," Butcher said. "Or the other way around. Some people have both, some have one or the other."