An entire main street underwater. Oh, my goodness. I met the mayor. We toured the city the only way we could, by boat. Its okay. Roads closed and businesses wiped out. Look at this. Kim oh, my god. Lemonis . A severe burden on the local economy. Peter so im on the city council, and so we are gonna have some serious budget problems like never seen before. Lemonis and with relentless rain, well, its paralyzed this town. Man 2 what i was afraid of. Lemonis as for the people who live here, theyve had enough. How do you recover from a disaster like this and restore enough hope that people who live here dont abandon everything . The reason that i wanted to come to the Mississippi River is, as i think about it, it almost feels like the most important freeway in america, right . It goes from minnesota all the way down to new orleans. Its how Farmers Transport things. Its how ships get up and down throughout the country, and its, quite frankly, maybe even a more efficient way to travel. What i wanted to understand is how this river is being impacted by natural disasters. Now, its been seven weeks since the Mississippi River flooded this town, and what i saw shocked me. I mean, look. Talk about devastating. Where this road is, theres a boat. Katherine im along main street here in grafton, and ive got to show you this. Right now, many homes and businesses are flooded, including the popular loading dock restaurant. Lemonis this town relies on Summer Business to keep it alive. Were a third through the summer. Water is 30feetplus high, and this has been here for almost seven weeks . They havent experienced any commerce. Reporter 2 grafton mayor rick eberlin is in the fight of his life trying to hold back the Mississippi River floodwaters from swallowing up his town. Lemonis i wanted to understand how people in this community have been affected and how i can help this town get back on its feet. Hi, there. Rick hi, marcus. Lemonis how are you . Rick rick. Im good, and you . Lemonis what is your name . Rick rick. Lemonis rick, are you the mayor . Rick im the mayor, sir. Lemonis how long have you been the mayor . Rick twoplus years now. Lemonis first flood youve had . Rick fourth flood ive had. Lemonis okay. You had the governor here yesterday . Rick we had the governor here. This is a crisis. Lemonis what makes it a crisis or not a crisis . Is it the level of water . Rick level of water, the businesses affected. Theyre 80 off on their revenues from last year or 100 , as in the case with some of them that havent even been able to open. Lemonis and they make their acorns right now . Rick right now, yep. Lemonis graftons economy relies heavily on tourism, and an 80 loss of revenue to any business is enough to force them to close their doors. Rick if they dont get some sort of assistance, they will go bellyup. What were seeing here is more issues of manmade. The corps, you know, they havent had the ability to dredge. When i was a kid, youd see dredges come up and down the river, you know, two to three times once every two to three years. Lemonis is that just giving the river depth . Rick give it more depth and width. You know, the inability to dredge like they used to dredge, you know. Lemonis why is it an inability . Rick i think its just their budget, that they just dont have enough to go around. The average graftonian, you know, they got tired of fighting this, and they took buyouts and walked away. Lemonis buyouts from who . Rick federal government, and thats whats hurting grafton now. Lemonis jesus, look at that. Rick we have these properties that we can never do anything with as a city because once you accept a buyout, it can never be commercialized again. Lemonis can you buy them back from the government . Rick cant buy them back, and thats all we want. Lemonis when they have a flood, fema, the federal Emergency Management agency, comes in and buys properties from the property owner, and then the federal government owns the property, and locally, nothing can be done with it. Im looking at house after house, business after business that are closed and underwater and wondering, if fema buys all these properties, whats left of the town . Rick we dont want handouts here. We just want a helping hand. Lemonis its okay. This emotional moment was pretty pivotal because i never intended to stay in grafton and make this a summerlong project, but as i sit here with the mayor, and i see the sincerity, it really does prompt me to think, whos gonna take the initiative . How do these towns work . Is this just gonna become a ghost town . Rick its been a strain. Lemonis i wanted to walk the town and meet some of the Business Owners and understand exactly what theyre going through, so i started with oliver, a veteran who owns a local fish market. Oliver, im marcus. Oliver marcus . Glad to know you, marcus. Lemonis nice to meet you, sir. How long have you been in town . Oliver ive been here all my life. Lemonis how many floods have you been through . Oliver all of them. You see, back in the 70s, we had the 73 flood. That was 33 feet. And then we had the 93 flood. That was 38 feet. Lemonis like many towns up and down the Mississippi River, grafton experiences floods from time to time. The residents usually recover. Its considered a flood at 18 feet or more above sea level, and now, seven weeks in, the water has only dropped 1 foot from its peak of 35 feet. The full damage of loss of revenue and structure repair have yet to be determined and wont be until the water levels come down. Is that your business right there . Oliver thats my business. Uhhuh. We fry fish for people. Ive been in the business 52 years. Lemonis wow. Oliver i spent three years in the army. Lemonis thank you for your service, by the way. Oliver and when i come out, i went into business in 1967. Lemonis whats a good day . What a good day dollarwise . Oliver 1,000, but weve lost mothers day and memorial day. Lemonis mothers day is typically a major revenue driver for this community, and olivers business, like many other businesses, was closed that day. Does Something Like this make you want to call it quits . Oliver if i was younger, no, but you get to the age on me . Yes. Lemonis wow. Oliver is similar to a lot of people here in grafton. Hes losing hope, and the loss of hope to an individual or a town can be devastating. Next, i wanted to check out the loading dock, a popular tourist destination. Peter marcus. Lemonis how you doing, sir . Peter how do you do . Nice to meet you, sir. Lemonis it wasnt easy to get here. Peter well, route 3 takes you right into the river at this point. The water is almost three blocks from where it should be. Lemonis what is this building . Peter this is my building. This is the old grafton boat works that we turned into a bar. Lemonis what was it originally . Peter it was the grafton boat works. Dates back to 1899. Lemonis uhhuh . Peter probably 80, 90 years of boatmaking history here. We have seating for 800 people. Lemonis whoa. Peter . Mostly outside. This whole south side of the building is decks and patio. When were packed, therell be 1,000 people in there. So its. People have to travel. Its a destination. The attraction of my business is the proximity to the water. As you know, in all the beautiful places, people want to sit on the water. Yeah. Its a calculated risk being here. The good news is, this warehouse, its all brickandmortar. Theres nothing permeable. Theres no drywall. Theres no carpet. All the outlets are up 6 feet high. Lemonis whens your. Whens high season for you . Peter flea markets. High season is april through october. Lemonis like, right now . Peter yeah. Lemonis and so what sort of revenue are you losing for every week that youre not open . Peter i would say 80,000. Lemonis and how long has it been like this . Peter weve been closed for seven weeks now. Lemonis really . Peter yeah, yeah. Lemonis so youre already out half a Million Dollars . Peter i would think so. Yep. And this town survives on sales tax. Theres really no other revenue. Theres no other industry in town other than tourism, and im also an alderman. So im on the city council, and so we are gonna have some serious budget problems like never seen before. So im not sure how thats gonna work out. Lemonis peter told me he employs 80 people. Thats a lot of people displaced without work. I was starting to really doubt myself like, what have i gotten myself into . How can i even help these people . I cant in good conscience just drive away. How are you doing, my man . Rick thanks for coming back. Appreciate it. Lemonis while i was thinking about it, it really became more about the potential extinction of a community in america, but i couldnt just throw money at it. Money wasnt gonna fix it. Id have to dig in and set an example and bring in volunteers and roll up my sleeves, and i was taking on this Herculean Task that had a high risk of failure. And i think that challenge, along with helping people, was probably my motivation. So the water, even here, looks better, yeah . Rick tremendously, yeah. Lemonis yeah. Rick its down over 6 feet now, you know, when you were here last. Lemonis oh, this was all underwater. Rick oh, yeah, absolutely. Lemonis oh, but its still there. Rick yeah. Lemonis whats the good word, my man . Peter hi, marcus. Ready for a boat ride . Lemonis yeah, man. Peter alright. Lemonis are we going out to your spot . Peter we are. Lemonis you think its going to drop again today . Rick yes. Itll drop another foot by the morning, i think. Lemonis is that mud line where the. How high the water was . Rick yep, yep. Lemonis ayeyiyi. Peter no sign of any beer coolers . Man 3 no. Peter all of our beer coolers were sitting on top of here. Theyre gone. This is brutal. Lemonis is this worse than you thought it was gonna be . Peter i. Well, i think thats safe to say, but most of it will clean up. Lemonis you just powerwash the [bleep] out of it. Peter daunting. Yeah. Lemonis i kept asking people what the backup plan was if the water didnt subside, and over and over again, they would tell me not to worry. Nine weeks later, the water is still here, and i hope peter can recover quickly. The 80 people who work here cant afford this business to be closed. Rick i dont like those sky colors. Lemonis feel like now youre gonna get more rain . Rick yeah. Lemonis the storm looks nasty. Looks like a hurricane is coming. This town and its businesses are losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a day. This storm is a gut punch. Rick holy cow lemonis come on. Lets get inside. Rick not good, what i was afraid of. Lemonis the flood is coming back . Rick nope, not coming back, but its gonna sit now for four or five days. Lemonis its gonna stay like this . Rick its gonna make it that much more difficult. Lemonis coming up, Mother Nature wont let up. The water was how high . Up to there . Dan yeah. Brenda oh lemonis oh, my god. This is, like, heartbreaking. Im looking to buy a building here. Im putting my money on this town. Lemonis imagine for a moment in your town did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins . Prilosec otc uses a unique delayedrelease formula that works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. With just one pill a day, you get 24hour heartburn protection. Take the prilosec otc twoweek challenge. And see the difference for yourself. Prilosec otc, 1 pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn. So when you do, make it count with crest prohealth. It protects the 8 areas dentists check for a healthier mouth. The 1 toothpaste brand in america. Crest. Honey honey . New nyquil severe honey is maximum strength cold and flu medicine with soothing honeylicious taste. Nyquil honey. The nighttime, sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever best sleep with a cold medicine. But you can work out anything wowith comcast business. W. Get fast, reliable, and secure internet on the nations largest gig speed network. Flexible tools like wifi you control. Voice solutions that connect you from anywhere. And expert advice here, here, or even here. Be fast. Be flexible. Bounce forward with comcast business. Get started with a powerful internet and voice solution for just 64. 90 a month. Plus, for a limited time, ask how to get a 500 prepaid card when you upgrade. Switch today. No roads, no visitors, businesses closed for months. We didnt get to meet. Im marcus. Kim very nice to meet you. Thank you for being here. Lemonis and youre kim . Kim yes. Lemonis i want to understand what businesses are affected and what its gonna take to get them open, so kim, whos the mayors wife and also owns an ice cream shop, is gonna walk me through town. How long have you been married to rick . Kim i would say since 2003, 15 years. Lemonis yeah, hes a good guy. Kim he is a good guy. Lemonis when did you guys buy this building . Kim 2011 when i bought the ice cream shop. Lemonis and its been good to you . Kim yes, very good. Lemonis except not. Kim yeah. Its been rough. Im fortunate not to have water, but im still down by 80 . Lemonis you are . Kim yes. Lemonis in the summer, if the flood wasnt here, what would today be like revenuewise . Kim probably about 2,800, between 2,800 and 3,500. Lemonis wow. Kim and so now were back to the bank, borrowing more money. Lemonis you are . Kim absolutely. Lemonis just to keep the doors open . Kim yes, yes. Lemonis id like to walk the town with you. Kim okay. Oh, i havent looked inside here yet. Lemonis this . Kim i manage this guest house. Lemonis this one . Kim yeah. So it was built in 1836 for the first mayor. Hi. Lemonis oh, my goodness gracious. Kim oh, my god. Oh, my gosh. Woman its awful. Kim [ gasps ] lemonis oh, my god. This is, like, heartbreaking. Kim it was beautiful. Lemonis the water was how high in here . Kim it was up to where the wall is cut out. This is all original flooring. Lemonis oh, my gosh. The floors are totally destroyed. Kim this place was booked all the way through the middle of july. Lemonis marcus. Dan dan, dan bechtold. Lemonis nice to meet you, sir. Dan my pleasure. Lemonis this is your house . Dan yes. Kim he owns this house, and he owns the woodshop. Dan over there we lost the furnace, the hot water heater, 200amp service. Lemonis Flood Insurance . Do you have Flood Insurance . Dan no, on neither place. Lemonis so this is out of your pocket . Dan out of my pocket. Lemonis what do you think itll cost you here . Dan oh, id venture, say, 20,000. Lemonis in a lot of places like this with a history of floods, you may not be able to buy an insurance policy. There may not be a carrier or company who is even willing to provide a policy. This is the front of the woodshop . Dan yeah. Lemonis how much inventory do you think you lost . Dan 60,000. Lemonis the water was how high . Up to there . Dan yeah, there. Lemonis well, its receded pretty good. Dan oh, yeah. Lemonis but were also still on main street. Dan yeah, were on main. Lemonis this building feel. Whats it made of, cinder . Dan concrete blocks. Lemonis so thats gonna be fine. Dan yeah. Well be back. Well make it. Lemonis yeah. Dan its. Ive had rougher times. Lemonis grafton, illinois, has had floods before, very few like this, and although most of main street is underwater, there is a small stretch that isnt underwater. What is that . Kim hmm . Thats tares market. Lemonis has it always looked like that . Kim yes. Lemonis when it comes to flooding, this is the least vulnerable section of town, yet strangely the worst caredfor. The key to rebuilding this city is to invest in areas that are less susceptible to flooding, to put the money in the real estate that you know will be the least affected. Hi, there. Alison hi, marcus. Lemonis im marcus. Alison great to meet you. Lemonis nice to meet you. What is your name . Alison alison rohan. Lemonis nice to meet you. In order to do that, i wanted to see if there was an opportunity for me to invest in some properties and bring it up to a standard that i think is right, and maybe people will follow this example on their own properties. So you have this building . Alison i do. My sister and i own it. My parents bought it in the 70s. Lemonis oh, wow. Alison and normally this town is booming. Lemonis and what about now . Alison we dont have any business right now. Lemonis zero . Alison no. Yeah, no business. Lemonis can i go inside . Alison absolutely. Come on in. Lemonis so is the building for sale right now . Alison it is. Lemonis and how much are you asking for it . Alison 179,000. Lemonis wow. Why do you want to leave . Alison im tired. You do get tired, but i love this town, so i wont leave. Lemonis one of the financial experiments i wanted to test is followtheleader. I wanted to know if i invested in property, can i attract other people to invest in the town as well . If more people invest in property, it would stabilize the realestate market, and with a more stabilized realestate market, it may prevent fema from buying up more land. More, ugh. I mean, you almost think theres just, like. You got to be kidding me. Alison i know. Lemonis holy moses. In order to understand how the citys finances work, i asked the mayor if he would be willing to open up his books and to sit down with the city council and the city treasurer, which i expected the answer to be no. But i think the mayor understood that the grave nature of what the town was under, and maybe thought an outside set of eyes could help. How bad are the finances today . Joseph this years budget was a deficit budget for the general fund of about 30,000, and i think its going to actually wind up being worse just because it didnt have any of the floodrelated costs in there. Were probably talking about adding another 100,000 to the deficit, and we dont have a big cash reserve. Lemonis do you have a cash reserve now . Joseph yes, about 800,000, i think. Lemonis okay. And the deficit obviously eats into that. Joseph correct. Lemonis i can tell you from an outsiders point of view, if you dont do something different, youre out of business. Woman 2 right. Lemonis period, end of story. Coming up, an american town in crisis. How much do you think is past due . Rick between 250,000 and 300,000. Lemonis i think the real question is, whats the longterm plan . Whats the town going to be known for, because ultimately that becomes the marketing engine for everything that happens. Peter i think it all starts with the natural beauty, really. Woman 2 it really is the key west of the midwest. Lemonis that is exactly what im looking for. Rick its a great slogan. Woman 2 and we use that line. Lemonis ive never heard it. I havent seen it anywhere. Any business or town for that matter has to be known for something. Why do people want to visit there . Why do they want to open a business there . And this town seems to be struggling with its identity, and if it doesnt get its identity right, theres nothing that will pull people to come. Do you guys want to be known as the key west of the midwest . Rick absolutely. Peter yes. Lemonis okay. Thats your jumpingoff point. Peter tha