Davenport business owners reflect on 2019 flood

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) – Tuesday marked five years since a devastating flood impacted downtown Davenport.

Just a little after 3:30 p.m. in the afternoon April 30. 2019, the force of the floodwaters caused a HESCO barrier to fail on River Drive at Pershing Avenue.  The failure left Pershing, Iowa, and Second Street areas underwater.

Two business owners along with Kyle Carter, the Executive Director of Downtown Davenport Partnership remember what that day was like.

“Our team was all over the ground with the city’s team, just helping people out just literally just dropped everything and ran down the street and did whatever we could, and a lot of other people did to random people,” said Carter.

“I saw the floodwaters break, it was like, the 10 commandments, you know, the flood wall, all the water flowing in. By time I got outside, the car was already flooded, I was barely able to drive it,” said Rick Harris, the owner of Bootleg Hill Honey Meads.

“We watched the alley very quickly start to fill with water and watched our dumpster get washed away. And yeah, pretty soon, yeah, the whole block was submerged,” said Matthew Osborne, owner of the 1/2 Nelson.

Reports showed the last record for the Mississippi River level was a little over 21 and a half feet in July 1993, but during the weather event April 19. the water crested at over 22 and a half feet.

Harris says he feels there is still more adjusting for businesses to do. “I think we’re still in the recovery mode. Actually. I think business is down here at recovering quite a bit. And we have a lot of new businesses that came in and it’s been a really you know, that’s good. But we are not over anything that happened yet. We’re we’re close,” said Harris

The 1/2 Nelson had to delay their opening because of the flooding but Osborne says getting through the event gave him hope.

“The big feeling that I feel today is like this, like sense of pride. For myself, for my staff, but also for all of our neighbors, the ones that have reopened, the ones that have relocated, but stay downtown, the one in, you know, and all the new people that have joined us downtown here ever since,” said Osborne.

No one died during the flood but the Downtown Davenport Partnership staff say there were some positive outcomes despite the chaos

“Now it’s got kind of a new name of motor row and taken on that historic district name. So there’s a neighborhood association, the there’s a movie theater, there’s raccoon motel, there’s, there’s retail, like, it’s vibrant is what it is. And it’s mixed. It’s one of the most healthy mixes of office, you know, quality of life stuff, retail shopping. It’s got it all, like it’s all there in that corridor. And you know, and we try to replicate that all across downtown. So, you know, that’s what it looks like today. And frankly, it’s better than it was in 2019. At this point,” said Carter.

The Downtown Davenport Partnership staff says they are working on new projects for Davenport. The staff says they plan to announce the new projects at their June 27. meeting

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