Flooding on East State Street yesterday caused several businesses to suffer.
Cici's Pizza, Petland, Staples, Captain D's Seafood, Burger King and Ruby Tuesday all had to close early, said Brendan Lee, a Cici's Pizza employee.
Michael Martin, owner of Cici's Pizza, said he would stay open as long as possible and would close only when it was absolutely necessary. He said he wanted to continue making pizza as long as orders kept coming in. But by 5:30 p.m., Cici's was forced to close its doors.
Some businesses, including Wal-Mart and Lowe's, remained open as of yesterday evening despite the roads being flooded. We're hoping not to close
just in case people need things to heat with or plumbing supplies said Amber Huber, administrative assistant of Lowe's.
Although much of East State Street was closed to traffic, Huber said they were still getting walk-in traffic.
The store was mainly operating with management because many of the employees had been sent home, she added.
Jeanette Washburn, perishable counselor of Save-A-Lot, said she sent a few employees home whose houses were in danger of flooding. Freezers were covered to protect the product in case flooding occurred inside the building. The employees also began preparing the store to close in case they have to run out of there.
The fire marshals told me that eventually the entrance (to the parking lot) will flood over. When that closes so will we
she said.
Some people were driving on the bikepath to get to and from the stores on East State Street that they could not reach because of closed roads.
Sharon Weber, corporate spokesperson for Wal-Mart, said that they listen very closely to local authorities to see if they should keep the stores open.
Safety is a top priority for us
not only for our customers
but also for our associates
she said. We'll never put sales before safety.
The Athens Community Center also remained open. We will stay open as long as we safely can
said Kevin Schwartzhoff, parks and recreation director. (The center) gives people a place to go when many other places are forced to close.
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