Flooding bedevils retailers

Officials and Beach Drive merchants think dirt from the BayWalk site clogged sewers.

By CHRISTINA HEADRICK

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- The gray carpet squished as Allan Abrams trudged across his shop, the Trinity Gallery, early Saturday. Dismayed, Abrams estimated more than $30,000 in damage to his inventory of antiques and fine arts from a flood Friday night.

He has no insurance, he said.

"I'm out of business," Abrams complained. He said he didn't know when he would reopen his Beach Drive gallery. "And I think it's because of some stupid contractors."

It was a familiar scene Saturday on Beach Drive, as owners of the upscale boutiques in a high-rent, two-block shopping strip discovered their shops had been flooded with about 3 inches of stormwater.

Both city officials and gallery owners looked up a gentle grade downtown -- toward the construction of the BayWalk shopping and movie theater complex -- for a culprit.

Dirt piled on the BayWalk site could have flowed into storm sewers, clogging them and causing them to overflow, speculated Mayor David Fischer and other city officials on the scene, including city engineer Michael Connors.

The officials walked the perimeter of the BayWalk site Saturday looking for clues. They scrutinized a bale of hay placed at one storm sewer as a barrier to keep silt from washing into it.

"That's not functioning," Connors told Fischer and City Council member Bill Foster.

BayWalk dirt also appeared to have washed down Second Avenue, covering portions of Beach Drive.

Crews hired by the builders of BayWalk came to work early Saturday to start cleaning up the dirt, shoveling it off the street, Fischer said.

Representatives of the Sembler Co., developer of BayWalk, could not be reached for comment Saturday.

"We'll get to the bottom of it," Fischer promised store owners. "And we need to prevent it from happening again."

St. Petersburg officials called in a public works crew to vacuum debris out of nearby storm sewers on Beach Drive to improve drainage.

But some store owners complained that the city also was to blame. They questioned why city inspectors had not required BayWalk to take precautions to prevent storm sewers from clogging.

"The city needs to deal with it. If someone had taken a match to our shop, someone would be held responsible," said Bob Serata of Bernie's & Son Jewelers. Friday night's flood was the third in three weeks. As recently as last Saturday, store owners say, they called the city to ask officials to take steps to prevent unusually serious flooding on their street.

"The first time this happened a few weeks ago should have been an indication that something was wrong," said Gary Reynolds, who is the proprietor of the Mission Shop of craftsman furnishings and gifts.

Reynolds said he spoke to city employees about a week ago, who told him to just try to blockade his door so water wouldn't get in.

Heavy rain was part of the problem, too.

According to the National Weather Service, 4 inches fell in downtown St. Petersburg from 8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday.

In the middle of the storm, Karen and John Erickson rushed to their Straw Goat gift shop, after a friend who lived nearby called them.

"It's the worst (flooding) I've seen in 31 years of business," Mr. Erickson said.

The Ericksons estimate they lost several thousand dollars in merchandise: place mats, table cloths, books, cake mixes, invitations, parchment, cards, gift bags and picture frames that were stacked near the floor.

It was all soaked with the dirty stormwater, said Karen Erickson. She spent Saturday wearing rubber gloves, cleaning what could be saved.

"We're fine, but it's a big mess," she said.

"And we've had to postpone a vacation to Boston to come in here today."

At the pricey Red Cloud Indian Arts gallery, owner Harriet Rambeaux cried.

"I can't do this anymore. I've had it," Rambeaux said.

Rambeaux and Abrams said they may consider legal action.

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