After one of the worst floods ever to hit the Lansing area, business owners are expecting the worst but hoping for the best.
The floodwaters hit businesses on Kalamazoo Street the hardest.
"There's no way of stopping it if it gets that high again. Next time, I may retire," Steve Spalding, who owns Ace Cleans said.
According to Spalding, the water came up about three feet high, making him re-do his offices and throw away business records and furniture. With more rain, Spalding says there isn't much you can do but hope for the best.
"Just what happens, happens. There's nothing I can do to stop it I don't think. The river's right there. This was supposed to be a 50 year flood, and it was 50 years from the last one, hopefully it doesn't happen again this evening," he said.
Across the street at Bake N' Cakes, workers are finally back in the swing of things. Manger Haleigh Manson said that the business had to tear out the drywall, hire a floor cleaner, replace the bathroom, and re-do cabinets in order to open back up in mid-March.
"For here, after the flooding, we're taking a lot of precautions so we won't have as much damage if it happens again," Manson said.
According to Manson, the business has been brainstorming different ways to keep potential water away. Some ideas include using sandbags or foam installation on the side of the building that is most at-risk. Shw told News 10 that even though the flood caused a lot of damage to the business, she was impressed with how her coworkers worked together in order to reopen.
"Once we got in, it was kind of eye-opening to see all of our employees band together, and it was a really great team-building experience. It sucked, but it was a positive in the end," Manson said.
