{"id":36394,"date":"2017-08-24T18:43:59","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T22:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/huntsville.dopperonline.ca\/?p=36394"},"modified":"2017-08-24T18:56:36","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T22:56:36","slug":"local-businesses-still-cleaning-tuesdays-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doppleronline.ca\/huntsville\/local-businesses-still-cleaning-tuesdays-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Local businesses still cleaning up after Tuesday’s storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

The water has receded and most of the roads that were washed out by the deluge of rain on August 22<\/a><\/span> have been repaired, but for some local business owners the clean up continues.<\/p>\n

<\/broadstreet-zone><\/strong><\/div>\n

Businesses on Cairns Road and Cairns Crescent in Huntsville’s west end were the worst hit by the series of thunderstorms that dropped more than 100mm – one local personal weather station (PWS) measured the rainfall at more than 200mm – in just a few hours.<\/p>\n

It’s the second time this year the area has flooded. In the spring, a beaver dam off Kitchen Road South let go, swamping the area with about 18 inches of water. This time around, the water crested two feet in some areas.<\/p>\n

For small business owner Rob Addison, who rents shop space in a building on Cairns Crescent for The Addison Wood Company, a second flood in one year is devastating for his new endeavour and he’s hoping his business will be able to survive it.<\/p>\n

The garage door to the shop was pushed in by the force of the water and once that happened, “the water was just freely flowing through,” said Addison. Part of the issue was the sheer volume of water – it reached a depth of about 18 inches in the shop compared to four inches during the spring flood – but that was exacerbated by traffic going by.<\/p>\n

“Some were respectful and drove through slowly but the big trucks were just flying through. Some of them created a foot and a half wave and I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s what pushed in the door was those big waves,” said Addison. “I parked my personal vehicle in the middle of the road to stop people from flying by and I was worried about the road washing out.” Calls to the Town of Huntsville to have someone close the road went unanswered, but four hours later a barricade was placed where there was a washout.<\/p>\n

“I can\u2019t blame it on the Town \u2013 we also got a record amount of rain, it was pretty much a whole summer\u2019s worth in a day. I know the Town was overwhelmed but some contact would have been fantastic.”<\/p>\n

Addison’s fianc\u00e9e Trish Steele set up a GoFundMe page<\/a><\/span> to help the business recover from the damage. The page reads: “As a small business, only in its second year, we weren’t ready for this. We can’t go weeks without work as we clean up, put back the pieces and replace what has been lost. This is a huge hit to our family. Right now we are trying to put together the funds to get us through the next few weeks, to finish the projects that our customers are currently waiting for.”<\/p>\n\n\t\t