One year after historic floodwaters devastated the bi-state region, people in Eureka are still dealing with the aftermath.
“We are hoping it was a once-in-a-500-year flood because we don’t want to go through that again. It was not fun,” said Mario Boccardi, a co-owner of Joe Boccardi’s Italian restaurant.
The eatery was heavily damaged in the flooding last year with about 4 feet of water inside that destroyed everything.
“It was totally gutted," he said. "This was place was down to a concrete shell.”
But following an extensive and expensive renovation, the popular staple along South Central Avenue in Old Town was able to reopen in April.
“We’re just very appreciative of the community staying with us. We hope to be here as long as we can,” Boccardi said, noting his father opened the business more than 40 years ago in the same location.
He also said business has been better than ever since the flood.
“The community has supported us more than ever,” he said.
But that has been partially overshadowed, Boccardi revealed, by some lingering effects of the environmental catastrophe.
“It was a big financial burden on my family because a lot was paid out of pocket,” he said.
And over at Old Town Automotive, it is a very similar story.
“I think it’ll take two to three years for us to finally break free,” said co-owner Angela Nahlik.
Nahlik said she and her husband scrambled last year to save what they could because they didn’t take the flood warnings as seriously as they should have.
“Water has never been here before, so I think we all took that to heart too much,” she said.
Now, Nahlik said she has remodeled the best she can, but it’s been a difficult balance also trying to re-open and run the shop.
“There’s just a lot of things with the renovations that we weren’t able to complete or put back the way we had before,” she said.
But she did learn some valuable lessons in case Meramec River spills over again.
For instance, where there was once wood in her business, she’s replaced that with medal.
“That’ll make it easier to replace.”
And then there’s the emotional toll of what the waters washed away.
“It’s heart-wrenching. We worked so hard and just to lose it in an instant was so devastating,” Nahlik said.
But through it all, Nahlik and Boccardi said it’s the continued support from the community that gets them through the recovery.
“I think it’s more tight knit since the flood. I think it brought everyone together. We all know what we went through,” Nahlik said.
