McCaysville flood recovery: Historic surge damages mountain businesses
McCaysville flood strips shops down to studs
McCaysville and Copperhill business owners are stripping flooded storefronts down to the studs while emergency crews clear dust-choked roads and maintain a citywide boil water advisory following historic river flooding.
MCCAYSVILLE, Ga. - Mountain business owners across McCaysville and Copperhill, Tennessee, are gutting shops down to the wall studs after late-week historic floodwaters smashed storefront glass and crippled the local water system.
McCaysville flood damage
What we know:
Security cameras at Bearfoot in Blue Ridge in Copperhill captured the moment rising river water surged into the streets late last week before crashing through the storefront glass.
The flood inundated the soap company founded by Michelle Loth, leaving behind wreckage that Chief Operating Officer Gavin Loth estimates will cost tens of thousands of dollars to repair.
Shop owners across the twin border towns worked through the weekend stripping flood-damaged businesses down to the bare wooden studs.
The McCaysville police chief placed the town under a boil water advisory, though municipal officials report conditions inside the water system are steadily improving.
SEE ALSO: Former Cobb County deputy dies in North Georgia flooding
Downtown streets turned into temporary sandstorms during daytime cleanup as municipal fire crews deployed street sweepers to scrub heavy layers of dried river silt off the pavement.
Disaster response teams from the American Red Cross and The Salvation Army established on-site relief stations alongside public, private and nonprofit drinking water distribution sites.
Dozens of volunteers arrived downtown to offer physical labor to impacted shopkeepers, with several helpers pledging to return daily over the coming weeks.
Mountain business recovery
What we don't know:
Authorities have not announced when testing will clear the municipal water supply to safely lift the boil water advisory.
Officials and business owners have not yet calculated the full financial toll of the structural devastation across the riverfront corridor.
Devastating financial loss
What they're saying:
Loth explained that the destruction delivers a severe emotional punch alongside the steep monetary loss.
"We literally put the last 20 years of our hard work and money and efforts into the businesses, and then last six years, every dollar, bit of emotion and energy and time that we've had into the businesses," Loth said. "So I'm mean to lose it all in one moment is devastating."
SEE ALSO: Jeeps, Red Cross and U-Haul rally to aid flood-hit towns in North Georgia
Regional disaster response
Local perspective:
Volunteers spent the afternoon going door to door to offer hands-on cleanup support to merchants before packing up at nightfall.
Local fire officials expect recovery work along the river boundary to stretch out over days and weeks as store owners return each morning to rebuild.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from live field reporting by FOX 5 Atlanta, who interviewed Bearfoot in Blue Ridge COO Gavin Loth and local volunteers on scene in downtown McCaysville, as well as official statements from the McCaysville police chief.