TAZEWELL COUNTY, VA (WOAY) – Bud’s market found itself underwater due to a flash flood on Thursday. Now, the store is closed until Monday while employees clean the mess.
“Yesterday, just suddenly, from nowhere, it started flooding,” said store co-owner Veer Patel. “It was about 4 feet high, inside and out.”
Around 5:30 yesterday, Patel noticed rainwater getting threateningly close to his storefront.
“Before, it happened in 2001 with the previous owner. This is the first time we’ve experienced something like this.”
It happened in just 15 minutes. Patel and one other employee were stranded as they waited for help to arrive.
“We got trapped inside for a couple of hours. Then, we called the fire department to help us out. They got us out and we closed the door. The water was in here all night.”
Much of the store’s groceries were ruined and today, it’s closed for cleaning.
“We tried to [clean] as much as we can. Today, we tried to vacuum out the water. We did it about 40 to 50 times, 10 or 20 gallons of water.”
Even after spending all day getting water out of the store, much of the floors are still coated with mud. Patel says his team will spend the weekend cleaning Bud’s Market and hopefully will reopen on Monday.
Patel says he hopes his insurance will cover the loss in product. Luckily, there wasn’t much damage to the building itself.
