ROCK HILL, Mo. — A Rock Hill restaurant is back open this weekend after it had to close down twice due to flooding.
The basement of Trainwreck Saloon flooded completely from the historic rainfall that hit the St. Louis metro area on Tuesday, July 26.
It left six inches of mud in the basement alone for owner George Hansford and his staff to clean up.
The walk-in cooler that was once full of beer and food is now completely empty too.
The Trainwreck Saloon has called Manchester Road home for a while now, according to Hansford.
"My wife and I have owned Trainwreck for 40 years. We just had our 40th anniversary in July," he said.
That's why, Hansford said, rushing waters filling up his restaurant and bar isn't anything new to him.
"We got flooded in 2008 and it was like 30 inches in here, but this time it wasn't that bad," he said.
Almost two weeks ago, the street outside of Hansford's business was completely flooded.
"Waters still rolling down Manchester Road, waters still rolling down. Look at that current," he said while taking a video on his phone.
That current made its way into the restaurant's basement.
According to Hansford, it destroyed pretty much everything from electric panels to water heaters to the walk-in cooler in just a matter of hours.
"This whole thing was full. It was coming over, just cascading right down in the wall here," he said.
Hansford reopened his doors after four days of cleaning, only to close them right back up four days later, when more rain came.
"It was heartbreaking, you know, because there's certain things that we had already cleaned up and put behind us," he said.
The added water even destroyed things that were just replaced, Hansford said.
"It ruined the water heaters again. It got up to about two feet, so this is the second set of water heaters, already," he said.
While the work is far from over, Hansford just wants the community to know their lights are back on and they are ready to serve you.
"This isn't our first flood and it won't be our last, but we are going to survive this whole thing," he said.
Hansford is still waiting on the basement to dry out.
He said none of the damage down there was covered by flood insurance.