L & Co. salon in Mandeville was anxiously preparing to reopen Friday for the first time in months after being closed for the past two months due to the coronavirus outbreak.
But a line of heavy rain that dropped between six and ten inches in a few hours had other ideas.
Flash floods pushed several inches of rain into Caleb Barner’s business.
“Finally, tomorrow we’re reopening and we heave about an hour and a half ago and come back to find a few inches of water in the building,” he said.
It was a similar fate for Happy Feet Nails and Spa next door.
The owners of Happy Feet spent hours inside the past few days sanitizing, cleaning and assembling new furniture that arrived just Friday for the opening – now, some of that furniture is ruined.
“We wanted to cry, actually,” said Hienrietta Chau of Happy Feet. “We can’t keep replacing our furniture. This is not one time that we’ve had to replace and you can’t claim on insurance all the time.”
On the northshore Thursday, heavy afternoon and evening rain swallowed streets, sidewalks and front yards.
In Mandeville, some streets became impassable. Front yards in the Lewisburg neighborhood turned to swamps.
In Madisonville, some drivers braved a closed Main Street under several inches of water.
Now, businesses like L & Co., just hours away from reopening, have a long night ahead.
“It's just trying to do the most we can tonight and hopefully we can get open as soon as possible," said Barner.