North Georgia flooding: Businesses face long road to recovery

MCCAYSVILLE, Ga. - Business owners along the Georgia-Tennessee border are digging through mud and ruined inventory after severe flooding along the swollen Toccoa River devastated the twin towns.

McCaysville business flood recovery

What we know:

Small business owners in downtown McCaysville, Georgia, and its twin border town of Copperhill, Tennessee, are clearing out heavy mud and debris after the Toccoa River overflowed its banks. Water seeped through structural building cracks, submerging shops throughout the mountain tourism corridor.

One small businessman said the disaster marks the third time floodwaters have impacted the community this year. Hugh Rogers, owner of McCaysville Drug and Gun, said the shop he’s owned for 30 years survived two earlier floods this year, but this storm caused far worse destruction. While he has insurance, college student Diana Leal lost her uninsured startup coffee shop, which operated inside her mother's Mexican restaurant.

Mountain tourist corridor history

The backstory:

McCaysville originally thrived as an industrial hub centered around copper mining before local mines closed down and pushed workers out. A historic flood devastated the area in 1990, leaving the commercial core struggling until outside investors purchased vacant storefronts to build restaurants and retail shops.

The riverfront town evolved into a thriving tourist destination where passenger excursion trains arrive two to three times a day. McCaysville Mayor Terry Arp estimated that one section of the downtown commercial district sustained $10 million to $15 million in structural and property damage.

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• North Georgia floods: School closures, impacts for Friday in Fannin County
• Mandatory curfew ordered for McCaysville after devastating flooding

Small business owners speak

What they're saying:

Shop owners expressed shock as they surveyed ruined storefronts and evaluated whether their businesses could financially survive.

"I have no words," said one affected bossiness owner said. 

Leal reflected on the difficult balance of operating along the riverfront which attracts many people. 

"Because, you know, when you want to relax, you go sit by the river, but you don't expect this to happen to your business," Leal said.

Rogers emphasized that recovery will require patience, noting that many residential neighbors suffered total losses. 

"A day at a time," Rogers said. "I feel pretty fortunate. Based on this. There's a lot of people who lost their homes and I'd rather be cleaning this up as well as your home."

Federal disaster assistance timeline

What we don't know:

While Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency, federal authorities have not announced whether they will approve an official major disaster declaration for the affected river corridor.

Officials have not provided a specific timeline for when state emergency teams will finish verifying local loss assessments.

Emergency declarations and aid

What's next:

Town leaders are actively coordinating with emergency management directors and state officials from Atlanta to document losses and petition the federal government for aid.

"We're gonna start getting with GEMA (Georgia Emergency Management Agency) and see if they can't help us and FEMA, and hopefully they'll declare a disaster area because there are millions of dollars right here," Arp said. "They're at Blue Ridge now netting with EMS directors up there. Now, we've been in touch with them, many times with a couple of folks from Atlanta, and we'll be talking to them again tomorrow. We are going to come back. We are."