ALTON, Ill. — It's the price you pay for prime real estate and the usually serene view of the Mississippi.
"It's the beauty and the curse of being next to the river," said Mary Morrison, the owner of Morrison's Pub.
On Monday, several businesses along State Street in downtown Alton started their week with closed signs plastered in front.
"We're always closed on Monday but we're going to be closed this week probably," Morrison said. "It depends on where it crests."
Morrison's bar is lined with money, and if she had a dollar for every time it flooded, she would have one for every year she's been in business.
"Our first two years were the roughest, we had four floods, three of the four were top-10 floods."
Mary's Irish themed eatery is one of the closest businesses to the river.
She says with every flood, she gets savvier.
and by looking at this one, she's not too optimistic about the future.
"There's a lot of rumors and the rumors are this is going to be a very bad spring and that this is just the first flood and that there's more to come," she said. "And my gut's telling me, too, that this is my first flood and we may have the worst one coming."
Larry Payne has seen this view too many times to count.
He remembers back in 1973 when the Mississippi rose to record heights.
"Mother Nature is what it is," he said.
While Flooding may have blocked the street and temporarily stopped business, it's not washing away Mary's faith.
"In those moments where you get discouraged, step back and think about your good fortunes," she said.