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KC businesses brace for heavy rainfall, possible flooding

Posted at 10:08 PM, May 20, 2019
and last updated 2019-06-05 12:45:35-04

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Businesses across the metro braced for possible flooding, as rain rolled through Monday night.

Among the businesses prone to high water is Terry’s Hauling, located on the bottom of the hill in the Argentine neighborhood in Kansas City, Kansas.

“This street is higher than our building,” co-owner Brian Terry said. “If they don’t turn these city pumps on fast enough, that’s when it actually comes up through the sewer lines.”

Whenever it rains, Terry said his maintenance barn will get at least two or three inches of water. To prepare, he and his employees put out pumps to divert the water back onto the street. They also squeegee the water in the morning and elevate everything inside.

“Everything is off the floor just a little bit, keep everything up that would get water damage,” he said.

Across state line in the West Bottoms, Holmes Drywall Supply owner Jeanne McGrath also worried about the rain. Every day she said she looks at the Kansas River on her drive into work.

The business flooded in October 2018 after the city’s Turkey Creek Pump Station had a “operational problem.”

“We spent about a month cleaning and putting stuff in the dumpsters, and sorting through product," McGrath said. "It was a big mess."

Holmes Drywall Supply was not the only business to flood because of the operational problem. Several other businesses experienced several inches of flooding.

This year, the city spent nearly one million dollars on settlement claims.

“We hope that never happens again,” said McGrath.