ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 30, 1995 TAG: 9601020041
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SERIES: A look back at 1995 - Whatever happened to...
SOURCE: BETTY HAYDEN STAFF WRITER
HOMES ARE BEING BUILT above the flood plain, and area businesses are getting back into production, but residents in this area won't soon forget the summer of 1995.
Dudley Brill hasn't gotten around to buying a new desk for his office just yet. He's been using a folding table since flood waters swept into his Rockbridge County restaurant last summer.
The 45-year-old owner of Goshen's Mill Creek Cafe says serving customers again topped his priority list immediately after the flood.
"My office isn't conducive to business, so I figured whatever would get me by until next year would do," Brill said.
Cafe employees spent eight hours a day for about 10 days cleaning up the 3 to 4 feet of water, mud and muck the flood left behind. They reopened with a limited menu and were back to full capacity in three weeks.
The quick turnaround was possible only because Brill charged the necessary supplies on his credit cards until his insurance company came through to help him make up the $55,000 he lost in equipment and income.
Brill's business was hit by the first of two floods to inundate Rockbridge County and surrounding areas in a span of five days. The first rains came June 22 and 23, followed by more downpours June 28.
"I've never seen rain come down that hard," said Brill, who was at his Bath County home when the rain started overnight.
The second storm dumped 10 inches of rain on the town of Glasgow in just 12 hours.
Among the town businesses damaged was the 60-year-old Lees Carpet factory, which is owned by Burlington Industries Inc.
Ron Reid, the plant's human resources manager, said the flood caused at least $12 million of damage. Final figures won't be available until all repairs are completed.
The company had to throw out about 300,000 square yards of carpet ruined by the flood waters, which ran off nearby mountains and poured between 6 and 10 inches of water into the factory.
The biggest expense, though, has been replacing approximately 300,000 square yards of parquet flooring that covered a substantial portion of the 34-acre facility, Reid said. The wood floors buckled from the water and had to be ripped out.
Workers are putting down an epoxy surface in place of the parquet, and Reid says he expects the project to be finished by February.
Despite extensive damage to the plant, workers were cutting and shipping carpet to customers within 24 hours, he said.
A plant shutdown for employee vacations already scheduled for the week after the flood gave the company more time to clean up the production areas of the plant.
Even with the extra time, Reid said, it would have been impossible to get back on track by July 10 without the help of 700 of the plant's 1,250 employees who worked instead of taking vacation.
"We simply cannot praise our employees enough," he said.
Bob Claytor, the county's director of fiscal services, said the first flood did about $1.2 million worth of damage countywide, while the bill from the second flood was an estimated $42.6 million. Insurance covered some of the damages, and the federal and state governments have provided some relief money.
Rockbridge County received $42,583 in federal funds to cover some of its expenses, but Claytor said that other costs, such as flood-related work done by county employees, were absorbed into the county budget.
Most of the county has recovered from the flood, but some individuals continue to make repairs to homes and businesses, he said. Some people who lost their homes are rebuilding above the flood plain.
Claytor said the county has applied for more federal money to repair streambeds washed out by the floods.
While the summer's floods did plenty of damage, Brill said, they can't compare to the floods in 1969 or 1985. But he's not complaining. Those previous floods helped Brill prepare for this one, he said, because he installed equipment with compressors on top and put in more durable flooring in his restaurant.
Claytor said the county's emergency flood plan really paid off because everyone knew what to do without being told. It made coordination of rescue and cleanup efforts easier.
Brill said that if he'd had some warning, like the gradual rising waters of 1985, he could have protected his cafe's chairs and inventory. But he added that he won't spend much time worrying about what could have happened.
"It was a freak of nature," Brill said. "You can't control [floods]; they're going to happen."
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: File/1995. The U.S. 501 bridge just north of Glasgowby CNBcollapsed in June after intense rains pummeled the area. KEYWORDS: YEAR 1995