MONTICELLO, Ind. (WLFI) - For the third time since January 2008, Riverside Restaurant
manager Jeff Jordan said his business is too close to the
Tippecanoe River for his liking.
"This morning it wasn't quite to the tree here but now it's on
the sidewalk so it's coming up," he said as he closely watched
water approaching the front sidewalk of the business in
Monticello.
The last two times the Norway Dam unleashed massive floodwaters
directly downstream, the restaurant became part of the river.
"Last year we lost just about everything that was inside the
building," Jordan said.
For more than 20 years what has normally been a peaceful view of
the river from afar, has turned into a nervous stare at rising
water as it climbs to within inches of the floor and floods the
outdoor patio. Jordan said he is getting tired of wearing waders to
his restaurant.
"Yeah, it's getting to be the attire now, I'll probably be
wearing these the next couple days as we clean up out the parking
lot and the deck area there," he said.
Jordan said he and his staff are too familiar with evacuating
and repairing the Riverside after last year's floods, and hopes to
never do it again.
"It's getting old. It's getting real old. We'll do it again, but
if it gets on the inside I don't know, I don't know how many more
times we can go through it," he said.