Red sign notice: Annapolis business reopening on hold after massive flooding at City Dock

BALTIMORE -- Businesses around City Dock in downtown Annapolis were hit by some of the worst flooding since Hurricane Isabel more than 20 years ago.

As the business owners and employees were cleaning up on Wednesday following a storm that dumped constant rain and produced heavy wind gusts, they were told not to open until further notice.

[Downtown Annapolis sees record flooding, new barriers serve as temporary defense]

Annapolis leaders say it's still too dangerous for those businesses to reopen, leaving the owners in the dark.

"Right now, I don't know what's going on," said Ryan Lamy, who owns Pips on Dock Street. "As a small business owner, being closed a week, two weeks, which is what I'm anticipating, that's not something I can do."

Lamy told WJZ that after Tuesday's storm and flooding, he anticipated being closed for no more than a day.

However, a red sign taped to the door said his business is unfit for human habitation.

"They just said, 'Hey, until you get inspected, you're closed.' That's it," Lamy said. "I don't know anything else, and neither does anyone on this street."

Pip's is one of eight businesses on Dock Street with a red sign, which also includes Storm Brothers Ice Cream.

"Then we lost power, that's when, of course, without the pumps operating, we're at a total loss," owner Sveinn Storm said. "The water came in and has hit every one of the freezers."

Unlike Lamy, Storm Brothers is looking at around $60,000 to rebuild after the flood, and the bright red sign was the cherry on top.

"How do they know to condemn my business without even going in there?" Storm said.

Lamy says he hasn't been able to get a straight answer on what he needs to do to reopen or how long inspections will take.

"He's telling me I have to rip my walls out? So, I'm a little freaked out right now, to say the least," he said.

A spokesperson for the city of Annapolis told WJZ that closing the businesses is a sanitation procedure because the properties were inundated with 18 inches of water.

The health department will have the final say on when they can reopen.

But Lamy says that with livelihoods on the line, the clock is ticking.

"It's scary because I don't know what's going to happen," Lamy said. "I don't know how long this whole thing is going to take. I've got bills to pay, my employees have bills to pay, and right now, they're out of work."

The city says this is not a typical procedure and the red signs are only up because of how high the water was Tuesday night.

The storm is the third worst to impact that area.

The City of Annapolis has created a tool that its residents can use to report damage from the flooding.