Mishap floods two basement businesses

A small construction accident on B Street combined with wet weather resulted in the closure of two McCook businesses for at least a couple of weeks.

Precision PC and Divine Productions will be out of commission for at least a couple of weeks, according to Precision PC owner Brett Warren. The two businesses are in the basement of Farrell's Pharmacy at 116 West B.

Paulsen's Construction was working on B Street, when a 4-inch hole was knocked in the building foundation Wednesday evening, Warren said. After more than 11/2 inches of rain Wednesday evening, Warren arrived at work Thursday morning to find the basement flooded. With at least two to three inches of water in the basement, he has been removing water ever since.

All computer equipment on the floor or within a couple inches of the floor was ruined, Warren said, and the carpet will need to be replaced.

While he is able to do some computer repair work, most of his time is devoted to drying the business out.

McCookNet, also located in the basement of Farrell's, is still up and running

Kurt Vosburg of the Nebraska Department of Roads in McCook, called the incident an unfortunate accident, which happened because of the high volume of water running down the the alley as part of the B Street construction project.

Vosburg said that when the sidewalk and the alley were removed, a window into the building's basement was left exposed.

Paulsen's filled the hole Thursday, preventing another flooding with the rains Thursday evening.

Vosburg said the matter of restitution has been turned over to Paulsen's and the insurance adjuster is scheduled to arrive today.

As for the B Street project, Vosburg said construction crews are still plugging away -- despite all of the rain.

While plans originally called for switching traffic to the southern lanes by the first of July, the damp weather has moved the switch date to the middle of July or even the third week in July. The last major section of pavement which remains to be poured on the south side of B Street is between East Second and East Fourth, "but it's been too wet to do anything," Vosburg said.

The wet weather also is delaying the paving of intersections and driveways.

"People have been really understanding," Vosburg said. But with some businesses seeing limited access south of B Street, "there are some folks whose patience is going to run out soon."