Business Owners In Willmar Say They've Never Seen Rain Like This

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Businesses in Willmar are working to clean up Thursday after overnight storms drenched the town with more than 8 inches of rain.

Cell phone video taken by state Rep. Dave Baker showed standing water and streams running down staircases inside the Super 8 Hotel he owns.

"We've had really bad storms, we've had customers move to lower level for tornado warnings, but we've never had water coming into actual building like this," he said.

Guests staying in Baker's hotel were woken up at 2 a.m. and told to move to higher ground.

"Oh, it was coming down definitely," said hotel guest Doug Alle. "We seen it coming in the front door, and it was slowly seeping in, and then we're like this definitely going to flood the whole basement out."

The Super 8 had just undergone renovations. Baker says now the race is on to dry out the four inches of flood water to try to get business back to usual.

Meanwhile, the only family-owned furniture store in Willmar also sustained damage.

"Some of the water was up to our knees, and then it was like four to six inches in the whole store," said S&F Furniture owner Agnes Schwanke.

It's the worst flooding she and her husband have had in the nearly 50 years they've owned the store. A flood sale is likely, Schwanke said.

The business owners both say that because they are not in a flood zone, they don't have flood insurance. As such, they will be responsible for the damage.

The flooding in Willmar comes as many people are in town for the Kandiyohi County Fair, which was forced to cancel events. More information on the canceled events can be found here.

In:
• Willmar News