NEW LONDON (WLUK) — As people work to recover from recent flooding, some area businesses impacted are starting to reopen.
“Right here is where the water came up to,” said John Faucher, Johnny’s Little Shop of Bait Owner.
Bait Shop Reopens in New London (WLUK video)
Inside Johnny’s Little Shop of Bait, owner John Faucher says Wolf River flood water was about a foot deep.
“Right now, it’s all about triage. Removing anything wet. Getting it out of the building. Running fans, dehumidifiers. Trying to get that mold-prevention going,” he said.
Faucher says the bait shop has been a New London staple since 1952.
“I’ve worked here 38 years, and I saw a lot of stuff go into the dumpster that was really hard to see go into the dumpster,” he said.
Faucher says record high Wolf River levels forced the bait shop to close for 15 days, until last Friday.
“We’re just open partially right now, because it was opening weekend for Wisconsin fishing for the lakes. We did get some bait in, and we’re able to just kind of serve customers on a maybe 1/3,1/4 basis,” he said.
Faucher says the store was busy opening weekend. He says there has been an outpouring of support.
“We’ve had big snow storms. We’ve had things that people get through, and neighbors helping neighbors, but this is the mother of all disasters for people. And I don’t know, it’s just been very heart warming to see the support that’s coming from within the community,” said Faucher.
Faucher says construction hasn’t even started yet, and it could be a couple months before the store is fully-open.