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John Polezogopoulos, owner of 311 Wine House in Old Town St. Peters, takes a card from a Servpro representative as he takes a break from emptying his basement on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Polezogopoulos and his wife have been cleaning the damage themselves and he has been disappointed by the response of city officials. "Nobody's called, nobody's came by," he said, despite leaving messages at the mayor's office.
ST. CHARLES — Charlie Downs has been digging out since Tuesday morning.
The St. Charles location of his popular barbecue chain, Sugarfire Smokehouse, was inundated with water and muck in Tuesday’s unprecedented rain and floods. The walk-in cooler and dry storage were flooded. Every compressor was covered with water. And, with supply chain problems, it might take six months or more to get new ones, he said.
“In all of my 40 years in the restaurant industry, this has never happened,” said Downs, a Sugarfire co-owner. “The water was 3 feet or higher inside the building, from the dining room to the kitchen.”
It has been an especially rough few years for business. The COVID pandemic hit almost every company hard, supply chain problems made it difficult to keep inventory on hand, available labor seemed to dry up overnight and inflation has only compounded the problems.
A ruined chop saw sits among the trash outside Michael's Flooring Outlet on Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
And then 9 inches of rain fell in one day — and more, in some locations. Flash floods tore at the fabric of local businesses like mice.
A bar in Old Town St. Peters lost 100 cases of beer. A home fragrance store in Brentwood got 4 to 5 inches of water in its showroom. A Florissant insurance office had to throw out all of its furniture. A St. Peters flooring company owner felt like he had to start his business all over again.
Then, for some, things got even worse on Thursday. Another storm blew through the area, dropping two to four inches of rain in roughly 2½ hours.
Katie Reuther’s basement at her gift and decor shop Whistle Stop 301 was completely flooded Tuesday. Her electrical panel was destroyed, but she thought she could make it: The main floor where she kept all her merchandise was mostly untouched.
On Thursday, two feet of water flooded her basement again. Without air conditioning to draw moisture out of the air, Reuther had to call vendors to come get their stock. The shop emptied out.
“It was a very humbling, bad day,” she said.
Triston Gibbons removes a wall from a former showroom of StoneCraft Epoxy Resurfacing in Old Towne St. Peters after it was damaged by floodwater on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
A worker is set to come out next week to see what it would take to get the electricity back online, but between supply chain slowdowns and required inspections, it could be weeks before she can reopen.
“It’s been one thing after another,” she said.
At the restaurant Hobo’s at the Legion in St. Peters, an army of employees and volunteers was cleaning out trash and scrubbing down floors and surfaces with bleach. Owner Brian Ward said they lost an old computer system, along with the hundred or so cases of beer, when the basement flooded, but it could have been much worse.
”Every year we do a spring cleaning and a fall cleaning, but I think we’ll skip the fall cleaning this year,” he said.
Next door to Hobo’s, Michael’s Flooring Outlet owner Michael Reynolds walked through a thin film of mud on the ground in his showroom.
Reynolds said he built his business starting in his 20s with almost nothing, and in some ways, it felt like he was starting over again — with a massive cleanup.
Peter Mason, senior business manager for Michael's Flooring Outlet on Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters, sprays a chlorine bleach on plywood that held low level carpet before Tuesday's floodwater ruined it inside the store's warehouse on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
He said it was important to him to support his 15 employees, who were dedicated to the business and had families depending on their paychecks. He’d find a way, he said, but he hoped the city or state would step in to help, too.
”I will persevere,” he said.
Left Bank Books in the Central West End, one of the city’s literary hangouts, was pounded twice by flooding.
Tuesday’s deluge was relatively minor, said owner Kris Kleindienst. The floor of the basement, where the store sells used books, was wet and so, to a lesser extent, was the floor on the main level, where new books are sold.
“We thought we had it under control,” Kleindienst said, until Thursday’s rain brought a 6-inch surge of storm water from the sewer into the basement.
The staff saved what they could, she said, including electrical equipment and the used books from the bottom shelves. But they lost boxes of books and probably the built-in pine bookshelves in the basement. In addition, water from the street level caused the basement ceiling to sag and damaged the drywall.
Though the water has drained, humidity from the soaked carpets threatens the remaining books in the store.
“This is a next-level wet,” Kleindienst said.
At K. Hall Designs in Brentwood, near Deer Creek, which sells home fragrance and personal care goods, a Servpro crew was hard at work Wednesday power washing dirt and grime from the floor. One man was sucking up that water with a wet/dry vacuum, and giant fans were blowing the floor dry.
Sales associate Julie Allen reaches for bottles to box for storage as the K. Hall Studio in Brentwood is cleaned following Tuesday's heavy rains that flooded Deer Creek on Thursday, July 28, 2022.
Scott Miller, president and CEO of K. Hall Studio, which owns K. Hall Designs, said store workers had moved much of the home fragrance and personal care merchandise from one side of the store to the other, allowing the crew to deep clean.
Miller said this week was the fourth time the business had flooded in seven years — often enough that the store installed wainscoting along the walls, so it could be easily removed and replaced in case of another flood.
The flood was another blow to a business already smarting from the construction that has closed Manchester Road for months, he said.
At the hard-hit Florissant Meadows Shopping Center in Florissant, the American Family Insurance agency was open on Wednesday, sort of.
Agency owner Felicia Miller was in the office to direct customers to another agency nearby, where owner Tom Schipp had allowed her staff to set up a temporary office.
About two feet of water made its way into Miller’s office, ruining furniture, a desktop computer and just-ordered marketing materials. The shopping center management pledged to replace the flooring, dry wall and electrical wiring, she said.
That will help, especially because Miller did not have flood insurance. She’s only owned the business for a year, she said, and her start-up spending priorities did not include flood insurance.
In St. Peters, John Polezogopoulos finished pumping water out of the basement of his 311 Wine House and Beer Garden and surveyed the wreckage that remained.
John Polezogopoulos, owner of 311 Wine House in Old Towne St. Peters, carries away ruined pallets among salvaged furniture on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Polezogopoulos has been disappointed by the response of St. Peters officials. "Nobody's called, nobody's came by," he said, despite leaving messages at the mayor's office. "One thing I can ask is for the city to just come by and maybe say I'm sorry, and maybe leave a dumpster." Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
He said Tuesday he’d have to remove all the food from expensive coolers that were likely ruined, and he worried his air conditioner and water heater would need to be replaced. Insurance likely wouldn’t cover it, he said, so he was expecting to take the hit himself.
Polezogopoulos hoped the public might come through to help, noting that while it was great that folks had raised tens of thousands of dollars for a nearby animal shelter that had lost 10 puppies in the storm, there were people like him who were hurting, too.
“We lost stuff,” he said. “The residents down there, they need a freebie.”
Kyle Reuther, the husband of Katie Reuther from Whistle Stop 301, said it will be crucial for people to keep small, local shops in mind as they do their shopping, long after the flooding recedes.
“They’re going to need help and support,” he said.
Larry Goessling, a location manager of Michael's Flooring Outlet on Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters, removes floodwater from the bottom row of shelving that held ruined carpet from Tuesday's floodwater inside the store's warehouse on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
"I am just exhausted. I am waiting to hear back from cleaning services and insurance companies," said Jamal Walls, who takes a moment to breathe, from clearing out items from his flooded basement on Friday, July 29, 2022, in the 7000 block of Dartmouth Avenue in University City.
Kasey Hawkins, 10, joins family members helping her aunt Kenquita Hawkins move from her apartment in The Reserve at Winding Creek apartments in Hazelwood on Friday, July 29, 2022. Residents scrambled for moving trucks when told they had to vacate the complex by the end of the day.
"This year I quit paying my flood insurance. I had been pay $2500 a year since 2008," said Timothy Grotrian, who cleans out his flooded basement on Friday, July 29, 2022, at his home along the 1200 block of Waldron Avenue in University City. Grotrian said his basement took in more than 5 ft of water during the first flash flooding on Tuesday. His basement flooded again yesterday during the heavy rains, flooding with more than 2 ft. of water. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
A resident of The Reserve at Winding Creek apartments in Hazelwood dons a mask before entering her building to clean out her unit on Friday, July 29, 2022.
Ernie Carr, 76, carries away a two-day-old dehumidifier after Tuesday's flood that was destroyed in Thursday's second flood in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. Carr and his wife Nancy, who have lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, had just finished cleaning up more than six feet of water in their basement from the River des Peres Thursday morning.
"I am just digging through a lifetime of memories.... water always wins," said Ty Treutelaar, who clears out items in his flooded basement on Friday, July 29, 2022, along the 1100 block of Birch Lane in University City.
Mia Henderson clears out carpet from a flooded basement on Friday, July 29, 2022, along the 7000 block of Dartmouth Avenue in University City. More than a dozen houses were flooded along the street from flash flooding on July 26.
"I was sitting with my children on the edge of the couch and the water kept rising. It looked like we were on a cruise ship. I don't swim," said Patricia Saddler, who recalls how the water kept rising on the first floor of her house early Tuesday morning, as she salvaged clothing on Friday, July 29, 2022, at her home along the 1000 block of Wilson Avenue in University City. Saddler's home has been condemned since Tuesday evening. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
Brinkley Sandvall, who flew in from Texas to help clean up her brother's flooded home, uses bleach water to clean toys on Friday, July 29, 2022, along the 1000 block of Wilson Street in University City. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
Ernie Carr, 76, carries away a two-day-old dehumidifier brought by his grandson after Tuesday's flood that was destroyed in Thursday's second flood in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. Carr and his wife Nancy, who have lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, had just finished cleaning up more than six feet of water in their basement from the River des Peres Thursday morning when four more feet came, floating away their new purchase. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
John Ward takes a moment to pet Vickie Barton's dog Freya while emptying his wheelbarrow into a city-provided trash container in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. Thursday afternoon storms filled residents' streets and basements with water from the River des Peres for the second time this week. "If they'd come with a good buyout offer, I'm gone," said Ward, a 29 resident of Ellendale. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
"These tires used to be in the garage," said Anthony Saddler, who cleared items from his flooded basement on Friday, July 29, 2022, on Wilson Avenue in University City. Saddler said his home has been condemned since Tuesday evening.
Ernie Carr, 76, takes a rest while his son-in-law washes down his basement that filled with Thursday's floodwater from the River des Peres for the second time in a week in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. "Two times in a week, and it's never happened," said Carr, who has lived on Hermitage Avenue for 40 years. "So what did MSD do?" Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Steve Gibson's dog Ripper sniffs water soaked rags used to clean up Gibson's classic car garage behind his Hermitage Avenue home in Ellendale after Thursday's flood, the second in a week, on Friday, July 29, 2022. Gibson raised two cars in his garage, including his 1968 Plymouth Barracuda. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Mud-coated dolls sit in the backyard of the Hermitage Avenue home of Ernie and Nancy Carr following two floods of the River des Peres in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
John Ward carts flooded contents of his Hermitage Avenue home to a city-provided trash container in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. Thursday afternoon storms filled residents' streets and basements with water from the River des Peres for the second time this week. "If they'd come with a good buyout offer, I'm gone," said Ward, a 29 resident of Ellendale. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ernie Carr, 76, tosses away a lifetime of running bibs and numbers after his basement flooded twice in a week in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. Carr and his wife Nancy, who have lived in the neighborhood for 40 years, had just finished cleaning up more than six feet of water in their basement from the River des Peres Thursday morning when four more feet flowed inside that afternoon. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Larry Ball carries artwork from his apartment in the Reserve at Winding Creek Apartments in Hazelwood on Friday, July 29, 2022. Residents, many who were rescued by boat from the flooded complex on Tuesday, scrambled for moving trucks when told they had to vacate the complex by the end of the day. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
A family member of Kenquita Hawkins peers from a truck as neighbors pack up and leave the Reserve at Winding Creek Apartments in Hazelwood on Friday, July 29, 2022. Residents, many who were rescued by boat from the flooded complex on Tuesday, scrambled for moving trucks when told they had to vacate the complex by the end of the day. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
"We lost everything," said Keith Terry as he looks over his toppled refrigerator while cleaning out his apartment in the Reserve at Winding Creek Apartments in Hazelwood on Friday, July 29, 2022. Residents, many who were rescued by boat from the flooded complex on Tuesday, scrambled for moving trucks when told they had to vacate the complex by the end of the day on Friday. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Kenquita Hawkins has a final look inside her unit before shutting the door after salvaging what she could from the Reserve at Winding Creek Apartments in Hazelwood on Friday, July 29, 2022. Residents, many who were rescued by boat from the flooded complex on Tuesday, scrambled for moving trucks when told they had to vacate the complex by the end of the day. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
"This year I quit paying my flood insurance. I had been pay $2500 a year since 2008," said Timothy Grotrian, who cleans out his flooded basement on Friday, July 29, 2022, at his home along the 1200 block of Waldron Avenue in University City. Grotrian said his basement took in more than 5 ft of water during the first flash flooding on Tuesday. His basement flooded again yesterday during the heavy rains, flooding with more than 2 ft. of water. Photo by Laurie Skrivan, lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
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Daniel Neman is a retail business writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Katie Kull covers public safety for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She previously wrote about local government for the Springfield News-Leader. In her spare time, you can find her cooking, riding horses or spending time outdoors.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
FEMA representatives will join members of other agencies in confirming whether the area needs a federal Major Disaster Declaration.
Insurance agents say that flood damage is not covered under a typical homeowner's insurance policy.
These centers provide experts in a host of post-disaster fields, such as housing, insurance, food stamp replacement, mental health counseling and other areas.
Early estimates say public costs is $87.8 million, FEMA officials said Monday.
John Polezogopoulos, owner of 311 Wine House in Old Town St. Peters, takes a card from a Servpro representative as he takes a break from emptying his basement on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Polezogopoulos and his wife have been cleaning the damage themselves and he has been disappointed by the response of city officials. "Nobody's called, nobody's came by," he said, despite leaving messages at the mayor's office.
Sales associate Julie Allen reaches for bottles to box for storage as the K. Hall Studio in Brentwood is cleaned following Tuesday's heavy rains that flooded Deer Creek on Thursday, July 28, 2022.
Larry Goessling, a location manager of Michael's Flooring Outlet on Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters, removes floodwater from the bottom row of shelving that held ruined carpet from Tuesday's floodwater inside the store's warehouse on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
John Polezogopoulos, owner of 311 Wine House in Old Towne St. Peters, carries away ruined pallets among salvaged furniture on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Polezogopoulos has been disappointed by the response of St. Peters officials. "Nobody's called, nobody's came by," he said, despite leaving messages at the mayor's office. "One thing I can ask is for the city to just come by and maybe say I'm sorry, and maybe leave a dumpster." Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Peter Mason, senior business manager for Michael's Flooring Outlet on Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters, sprays a chlorine bleach on plywood that held low level carpet before Tuesday's floodwater ruined it inside the store's warehouse on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
A ruined chop saw sits among the trash outside Michael's Flooring Outlet on Main Street in Old Towne St. Peters on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Triston Gibbons removes a wall from a former showroom of StoneCraft Epoxy Resurfacing in Old Towne St. Peters after it was damaged by floodwater on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
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