A Tale Of Two Restaurants: Flood Damage Varies Depending On Preparations
Flood Damage Varies In River Grove
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two eateries next door to each other in northwest suburban River Grove were in very different stages of cleanup on Tuesday, as flood waters from the Des Plaines River slowly receded.
"It's not as bad this time as it was in 2008 for us," said Ed Karayanes, director of operations for the McDonald's at Grand Avenue and River Road.
WBBM Newsradio's Bernie Tafoya reports, next door at the famous Gene and Jude's Red Hot Stand, a big flood cleanup was underway on Tuesday. Workers were seen donning respirators while cleaning up inside on Tuesday, and tossing out flood-damaged debris, while the McDonald's next door was getting ready to open for business.
"We're cleaned up, we're ready to open, just doing some … starting on the outside now," Karayanes said.
It's not that the flooding wasn't as bad at the McDonald's, it was the result inside the two restaurants.
Karayanes had installed special flood prevention equipment at the McDonald's after the 2008 flooding; including shutoff valves for the sewer lines, and rubberized door dams.
"We only had about a half an inch seepage," he said. "We just had seepage in the building through penetrations in pipes, and stuff like that, unlike 2008, [when] we had 27 inches."
He figured he spent as much as $700,000 on cleanup from the 2008 flood, but only several hundred dollars this year.
"It's money well-invested," Karayanes said.
