CINCINNATI — Before she leaves, Mel Huffman's friend asks if she wants an umbrella. She thinks about it and shakes her head.
“If I get wet. I get wet,” Huffman said. “Does it really matter?”
She's been covered in floodwater for days.
Huffman owns The Crystalary, a mineral shop that flooded in Mount Lookout. After spending the morning applying for insurance to reimburse her employees, Huffman walks to her home a few blocks away.
She rented a storage unit, but tells me there are probably 12,000 rocks in her kitchen. She can’t put them in her basement. That’s flooded before.
“It sucks,” Huffman said. “That’s all I can say. It sucks.”
WATCH: We follow up with flooded businesses in Mt. Lookout
I first met Huffman on Saturday, less than 24 hours after her neighborhood got more than three inches of rain in a short period of time. She told me the rushing water actually pulled her out of the front door while taking a video with her phone.
At one point, I asked if she had a bathroom I could use. She laughed.
"You don't want to go in there," Huffman said.
On Tuesday, I met with her again. Because the process of getting financial assistance for flooding is much more than ripping up flooring and replacing possessions.
It's something Huffman's been through multiple times since she moved to the neighborhood in 2012.
Her basement flooded more than a decade ago. She tells me Cincinnati sewer district technicians came out to inspect it and told her it was her responsibility.
Then, she says two different plumbers told her the flooding happened because of sewer backups.
“You just go around and around in these circles,” Huffman said. “This isn’t working.”
Huffman got flood insurance, but even that caused complications. A few years later, she says her insurance wouldn't cover a claim because they told her the flooding was a city problem.
She says she spent $25,000 and still doesn't have a finished basement.
On Tuesday evening, Cincinnati officials told WCPO they are pursuing state and federal assistance for the floods. And by Wednesday, the Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati says they’ve received nearly 1,500 reports of potential sewer backups.
"Our sewer system didn’t fail," said Diana Christy, the director of MSD. "There’s really no sewer system that can maintain that level of volume."
Outside the tattoo shop next door, Kyle Mitchell smokes a cigarette. He's a little stressed. Because Mitchell's artists are temporarily working at other shops — but he's still here cleaning up.
As he moves a cabinet out to a dumpster in the alley, it starts to sprinkle.
“Oh, good,” Mitchell said. “I wish insurance would call me back.”
Across the street, Huffman is running. Because it’s pouring now.
If you'd like to help, click this link for a GoFundMe to support restoration costs for Mitchell's business. The Crystalary is still accepting online orders. Other resources about MSD's sewer backup program, including how to file an online complaint, can be found by clicking this link.
