A small town is making progress toward recovery after historic flooding and many businesses in downtown Cambridge City are back open.
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News Center 7’s Cody Butler talked to one business owner who’s thankful for the help that got them there.
National Road in Cambridge City is a bit busier Tuesday.
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“We tried to get open again as soon as we could,” said Paul Fowler, National Road Antique Mall.
Fowler owns the National Road Antique Mall.
He said he’s one of the lucky ones.
His building mainly needed to be cleaned for him to reopen.
“A lot of mud in every crack and cranny in this building,” Fowler said.
At the height of the flooding, the basement was completely underwater.
The water went all the way up to halfway through the floor joist, and you could still see the mud on the handrail up to the main floor.
“The next thing was the concern of mold, so setting up dehumidifiers and fans throughout the building to dry it and try to get that humidity below 50% was a little bit of a challenge,” Fowler said.
Cambridge City Town Council President Jim McLean said it’s good to see the progress in town.
“Compared to where it was two months ago, it was a concern whether we would be able to recover,” McLean said. “But we’ve done really well, we’re recovering. The downtown jumped back very quickly.”
For him, that recovery happened because neighbors came to help neighbors.
“They’ve done a nice job and but yeah, I mean some of it coming back so quickly is surprising but it’s great to see,” McLean said.
“I think that’s part of the resilience of this town and that’s the moment I knew we were gonna be okay,” Fowler said.
Fowler said he doesn’t want to see another flood and he’s thankful for the outcome.
“I think it’s brought us together,” Fowler said. “We know each other more. And oddly, I think this has helped put Cambridge City on the map.”
Even with the progress, the community still has a long way to fully recover.
Many homes were gutted in the flood, with only a handful being worked on right now.
“People just came together, stepped up and started putting things back together they didn’t need to know you to do that; they just showed up, saw a need and jumped in,” McLean said.
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