HARRISON, Ohio — After historic flooding last week, many businesses and homeowners along the Whitewater River are still cleaning up the damage left behind.
Owner of Jake’s Landing in Harrison, Ohio, Jeff Sunberg, showed our WCPO 9 West Side reporter Marlena Lang the aftermath on his property.
“Everything was gone,” said Sunberg as he recalled first stepping onto his property Friday night after the floodwaters began to recede. “I’m just a shade under 6 feet tall; the water was above this cross member (around 7 feet high).”
WATCH: Harrison business recovers from last week's historic flooding
The property sits right on the Whitewater River, so when the water started rising, almost everything on the property was damaged.
“It’s a crushing blow, and you know it’s also a reality check on how powerful water is and what kind of damage it can do,” said Sunberg.
Sunberg and his team knew the flooding was coming, and prepared the property all day Wednesday. What they didn’t expect was how high the Whitewater River would actually get.
“It was expected to crest at 21 feet, and that’s what we prepared for; clearly it didn’t happen,” said Sunberg.
In Harrison, the river ended up cresting just above 25 feet, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, which led to damage that Sunberg estimates to be $50,000 to $60,000.
“This is our secondary bar, and it was displaced about 500 feet into the woods and upside down,” said Sunberg as he showed us a small shed that was completely bent on one wall.
Jake’s Landing is set to host a small music festival this weekend with several live performances and campers. Sunberg says over this past weekend they had around 60 people helping them clean up, and says the recovery wouldn’t be possible without them.
He asks that once he and other small businesses impacted by the flooding reopen, people go and spend money at their establishments.
