For The Chronicle Surveying a room full of wet boxes, rippled art prints and soggy textiles that were once valuable antiques on a recent afternoon, Dennis Eros, a tenant at Yard Birds Mall, said he didn't know exactly how he would recover from this month's flooding and the estimated $10,000 hit it brought to his business. "If there is help out there, I'd like to know about it," he said. While a number of agencies are already in the process of helping those affected by the recent floods, it is still to be determined whether federal money will be available to help residents and businesses. The Lewis County Emergency Management Center recently announced it has received 26 reports of business damage from this month's flooding totaling about a $3.7 million financial impact. Coupled with reports of residential losses, total reports only reach about $6 million so far. These preliminary numbers allow state and federal officials to determine if the extent of a natural disaster warrants an emergency declaration in the area, which allows Federal Emergency Management Agency money to become available for recovery efforts. The local EOC's release indicated that reports thus far do not appear to be enough to warrant a declaration. Shannon Gertson of the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber said immediately following the floods, the chamber attempted to make contact with all of its members. She said her initial estimate is that far fewer businesses were affected by the recent floods than a year ago. "Our thought is last year's flood is still in a lot of people's minds and the radio and newspapers did such a good job getting the word out that we were more prepared," Gertson said. "It's much better than last year." But Gertson noted that she did know of several businesses that suffered damage. The Chamber is urging businesses affected by the flood to make an initial report to the EOC. She said many do not realize that businesses can report loss of inventory, damage to buildings and any kind of economic loss caused by the floods. "We've been emphasizing with our members that they can submit economical losses because they had to close," Gertson said. "They don't have to have flooded to have had a loss." Good Health Nutrition Center owner Julie Shaffley said she will likely be among the businesses reporting a loss to the Emergency Operations Center. After narrowly avoiding flooding in 2007, Shaffley said she closed midday on Wednesday Jan. 7 to sand bag and move inventory to higher ground. Luckily, she said, the floodwaters did not reach her store as predicted. But Good Health Nutrition was still closed until midday Friday, Jan. 9 because of standing water that closed Harrison Avenue. "I'll probably report that loss of business," Shaffley said. "But I feel pretty lucky. We didn't lose inventory. We didn't lose power, so we didn't lose any of our freezers or refrigerators. And the community has just really supported us following the flood." But reporting initial estimates of losses is just the first step in what can be a long process, said Bob Gilbert, manager of Yard Birds Mall. Gilbert said he didn't expect many of his tenants to apply for federal aid if there is any coming because they simply do not have the time to wait for a declaration and then to traverse an application process. "Most of them didn't last year," Gilbert said of submitting claims. "Bureaucracy is sometimes so hard to deal with the little person who doesn't have the means just bites the bullet, pays for the repair and goes on with their life." Instead of hoping for help from the outside, Gilbert said the mall's tenants decided to take a proactive stance when flood reports began to come in. Last year, Gilbert recalled the floodwaters as a wall of water that quickly overtook the building, packing so much force that they blew open the building's locked doors. All Gilbert could do was watch. This year, he said there was much more notice so the tenants made the decision to move everything possible to the upper level of the mall before the lower levels were flooded with 15-16 inches of water. "That freight elevator was working like a horse for two days," Gilbert said. "And what is so encouraging to me is the flood is over and just a few days later you come in here and you'd never know we'd had a flood." While there were far fewer economic losses at Yard Birds Mall this year, Eros, who rents a space where he stores and catalogs antiques for auctions and antique shows was among the few who took a hit. He said he heeded the warnings about the flood and worked for 12 hours removing items and moving others to higher ground but in the end, he had to give up some inventory. He said he hoped to report his losses and potentially get some help. "The work involved in cleaning it up is daunting," Eros said. "I didn't have the time before. I don't have the time now and I can't afford to hire someone to do it. It's just something I'm going to have to get done." Bill Hollandsworth, owner of Tenderfoot Solutions in the Yard Birds Mall, which employs a special system of diabetic shoes and inserts, had a few words of wisdom for those businesses who do hope to report losses and apply for aid if a declaration happens. His shop sustained major damages in last year's flooding and did receive a $35,000 federal loan to help with the flood recovery. Hollandsworth said he believes he was successful with the federal aid because he was able to wade through a complicated and slow process and because he works with Medicare patients, so he already had a working relationship with the federal government. "I've heard there's going to be less federal money this year," Hollandsworth said. "It's a different flood this year. We had plenty of time to get ready." Even the FEMA Web site notes that federal disaster assistance is meant to be an addition to insurance money, not the means to completely recover from a disaster. Hollandsworth said he feels lucky to have been one of the fortunate ones to receive assistance last year but the experience prompted him to purchase flood insurance so he would be covered for future floods. He said it also made him think about a disaster plan for his business, another recommendation from FEMA. "We looked at Shop'n Kart," Hollandsworth said. "They're in a floodplain so they have a flood plan. They know who to call and what to do to get ready. That's what we're doing." Reporting Flood Damage for Businesses To report preliminary estimates on flood losses, businesses can call 623-1373 or 623-1374 if they are located inside the Centralia city limits or 740-1152 if they are located anywhere else in Lewis County. Businesses may report loss of inventory, damages to buildings or economic losses. Carrina Stanton is a freelance writer who lives in Centralia. She can be reached at carrinastanton@yahoo.com
