OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — It's been weeks since the flood waters poured into towns in Nebraska and Iowa. One town hit extremely hard was Hamburg, Iowa. Water is finally starting to recede, which means clean up for businesses has begun.
"Everything in it was ruined, all the appliances, just everything is gone," says Vicki Sjulin, owner of the Blue Moon Bar & Grill in Hamburg. “This building is near 100 years old, we’ve never had water in it before."
Looking for help, Sjulin stopped by the U.S. Small Business Administrations "Business Recovery Center" which is helping flood victims with different resources.
Just down the road from the Blue Moon, other stores were cleaning up including Hamburg Antiques. Owner Melanie Finnel says the inside of her store was covered in mud after the water receded.
“Like a muddy tornado, just turned everything upside down, no matter how slow it seeped in and went out everything just kind of drifted around," says Finnel.
So while parts of the town are now cleaning up, some wonder if the rebuilding efforts are even worth it.
Whether or not they want to sacrifice years and years of hard work that was paid for, to borrow all that money and restart, I don’t know," says Sjulin.
The "Business Recovery Center" is open until 5pm on Thursday April 18th. It's open from 9am to 5pm Monday through Sunday and is located at 2967 US 275, Hamburg, IA 51640. No appointment is necessary and all services are provided for free.
