By Tanya De Jesus
tdejesus@kcautv.com
The Decatur Marina and Pop N' Docs restaurant were both forced closed because of this summer's historic flooding.
"A lot of people come here to this little town in the summer. They spend a lot of money here and without us being open there was really no reason to come by," said Mark Kwikkle, the owner of the Decatur Marina and Pop N' Docs restaurant.
Kwikkle estimates he's lost $300,000 in business this summer. It gets worse and here's why. Kwikkle says it will cost up to $75,000 to fix the restaurant because the water actually made its way in.
He says, "When we first came in the mold was half way up to the wall. The water was up to the bottom of the window."
Kwikkle received $4,000 from FEMA but he's counting on a loan to replace the sheet rock, electrical wiring and getting everything back to how it was.
And it's because of the damage left behind in the trailer homes at the Decatur Marina that most of them will have to be torn down. But none of these obstacles are defeating Kwikkle.
"Next year we'll probably beat our sales goal just because we're back open and people miss us and I miss the people," said Kwikkle.
Kwikkle says he's confident that Pop N' Docs will be up and running again by next spring and he's hoping he'll have a season better than ever.
