‘Caught off guard,’ Main Street Manayunk cleans up after flooding

Main Street Manayunk was open to traffic once again on Friday morning after heavy rainfall on Wednesday flooded businesses and roads, closing off the area between Shurs Lane and Ridge Avenue.

Cleanup is still ahead, however, for some of the restaurants, shops and warehouses that line the Schuylkill. 

Up and down Main Street, business owners seasoned in the ways of the river expressed that they were surprised at how quickly water came in this time around. 

At G.J. Littlewood & Sons, a raw stock dyeing facility that’s been in Manayunk since 1869, owner Robert Littlewood was cleaning out mud and debris from inside his warehouse. Once everything is cleared out, he’ll be able to fully assess the damage that’s been done. 

“We’ve been through quite a few floods, so we have a plan in place to be able to deal with it, but it just came up so fast that we weren’t able to keep ahead of it,” he said. 

He hopes to reopen by the end of next week. 

Outside Manayunk Brewing Co., employees were seen hauling water-damaged furniture out of the restaurant and dumping it into an already full-to-the-brim dumpster. 

Dylan Rose, an employee of the brewery, said about five feet of water came rushing into the restaurant.

The damage is extensive, and Rose predicts it will be another three weeks until they can reopen.

“Tables, chairs, food, all kitchen supplies, all front of the house supplies, anything you can see is damaged. You walk in — carpet, walls, our bar fell over. It’s just everything is damaged, everything,” he said. 

“We can usually predict this,” he added. “It rose too fast, it caught us off guard.”

At the furniture store Dwelling, owner Gary Gevurtz said it was only the second time since 1983 that the building, which is elevated, has flooded. The first was in 1999 during Hurricane Floyd. 

A pile of damaged goods were piled up outside the store while industrial size fans aired out the floors inside. 

Gevurtz isn’t sure exactly when he will be able to reopen. 

In the meantime though, cleaning up is “no fun.”