KANSAS CITY, Mo. — On June 27, 1993, the Missouri River reached flood stage in St. Louis. The Great Flood of 1993 would go on to claim 50 lives and cause $15 billion in damage.
This summer marks 25 years since the natural disaster that wreaked havoc on the Midwest, including the Kansas City metro.
"Everything was pushed into the corner. So all these tables, chairs and everything were pushed back against that wall over there," Jason Quirarte said, gesturing towards the furniture inside Margarita's on Southwest Boulevard.
Quirarte was in high school in 1993 when water flooded into his father's restaurant.
"Once the water gets out, the mud. You're dealing with mud up to your shins," he said.
A picture of the water, which rose to the awning of Margarita's, hangs on the wall of the restaurant.
"Here to the back of the restaurant they put a ladder," Quirarte explained, pointing to the roof in the photograph. Staff members climbed up there to be rescued.
Twelve miles away in Parkville, businesses dealt with the same heartbreak.
"The water was above the door. We couldn't go in the door. We had to come in from above," Jim McCall said.
McCall owned Papa Frank's on Main Street. It was submerged in eight feet of water, while the American Legion a few doors down faced 12 feet.
"The pictures don't really tell the story of a river running through a town," he said.
McCall didn't have flood insurance and said his neighbors didn't either. He eventually reopened Papa Frank's from 1999 to 2009. Later his two sons helped open Parkville Coffee, the business that currently operates in McCall's old building.
"We're definitely back from '93," he said.
Margarita's is back too and gearing up for a major renovation in the same building that flooded all those years ago.
"Never wanted, thought about relocating, so this is it. This is home for us," Quirarte said.
Margarita's will close in August for the updates, but the owners will not remove the lines from the walls that show just how high the water rose in 1993.
