Alamance County businesses grapple with the aftermath of historic flooding

MEBANE, N.C. — The remnants of Tropical Storm Chantal caused historic flooding in Alamance County on Sunday evening — flooding so bad that it was still impacting businesses nearly 24 hours after the last raindrops fell.

In the aftermath, many local businesses wonder what to do next or get creative to keep the money flowing.

Businesses like Clay Street Tavern in downtown Mebane were among those impacted by Sunday’s flooding. Bartender Holly Day told WFMY News 2 the city has asked businesses to limit water use as much as possible. 

In order to do that, she says, Clay Street Tavern has switched from glass to plastic cups to cut down on washing.

“Really, the only water usage that’s happening in here today is people flushing the toilets, which is few and far between,” Day said.

Flooding impacted an art studio in Saxapahaw in a very different way. Donovan Zimmerman, Co-Founder of the Paperhand Puppet Project, said the flooding caused damage to both his artwork and the materials he uses to create his pieces.

“It is a hard day to lose so much of the art we’ve been making,” Zimmerman said. “And it caused a lot of damage because our stuff is made out of paper and cloth. It definitely hurt some our our pieces.”

Zimmerman said he’s never seen anything quite like Sunday’s flooding — not even when Hurricane Fran hit the area back in 1996.