WARREN COUNTY, Mo. — A Warren County business is destroyed as a result of Tuesday’s historic flooding. The popular restaurant and bar is one of the only places in town that serves food. Owners aren't sure if they'll be able to re-open.
A buckled wall now barely stands as John and Lisa Ketterer come to terms with reality. Very little of their family business can be salvaged.
"Two freezers, all the food, basically all our product. Liquor, beer,” John Ketterer said, pointing to what had to be trashed.
They opened Treloar Bar and Grill in Warren County 12 years ago.
"Burgers, fries, chicken strips,” John pointed out.
Tuesday, everything changed in an instant. Floodwaters rushed through the restaurant, sweeping away whatever it came in contact with.
"Our LP tank, dumpster…. we usually have a port a potty out here, that floated, actually our car floated from there to here, floated across the parking lot," Lisa Ketterer explained.
John was in the restaurant before the storm, getting things prepped to open Wednesday. That never happened.
The business is now destroyed, and they don't have flood insurance.
"Technically, we’re not in the flood zone because we don't get flooded by the Missouri River. We only get flooded from this creek,” John said, pointing to the creek 50 yards away.
To prevent flooding, he often goes to the creek to clear it out. "I've been doing it for the last two years. Bought a dump truck, tractor…Digging out the creek because no one wants to take care of it."
Tuesday's storm proved too powerful, with more than two and a half feet of water now making the future of the town's only restaurant uncertain.
"Try to put it together but we don't know. We don't know what were gonna do,” John said.
"We'd love to do it again. We’re not sure if it's going to happen though. We'll see,” Lisa said.
“Hard to come back from,” John added.
Some 50 people in town joined the couple in clearing out trash Wednesday. Owners said the damage is in the tens of thousands of dollars.