SAINT LOUIS, MO (KMOX) - The calls started less than three hours after the rain did. Justin Woodard, CEO of Woodard Cleaning and Restoration tells KMOX the phones started ringing at 2:30 Tuesday morning, as the skies dumped inches of rain on St. Louis area residents.
The historic downpour flooded hundreds of basements across the map. Woodard says some water trickled down through doors and windows -- some bubbled up from under ground, "when it's coming through the ground a lot of stuff can be traveling with it. I think what we're seeing, going into your basement and stepping into water, regardless of what color it is, it is just shocking."
Woodard says sometimes carpets and older, solid furniture can be salvaged, but newer particle board furniture that gets soaked cannot. He advises people who store their keepsakes in basements to use plastic totes instead of cardboard boxes.
Woodard tells Total Information AM, his company received 552 calls Tuesday from homeowners and businesses needing help with flash flood clean-up.