MOLINE, Illinois – Expected rain this weekend has businesses along the river worried about another spell of rising flood waters.
This year’s flood has brought a lot of uncertainty, but business at Milltown Coffee is finally back and brewing.
“These past two months have been a significant loss,” says Cameron Cartee, Milltown Coffee Owner.
Employees at the coffee shop have been out of work and no flow of revenue has come through, after constant flood waters forced the shop this year for an entire month.
“We are just happy Milltown is back open because they have our favorite sandwich, a veggie burger,” says Angela Baker, Milltown Coffee customer. “And my favorite latte in the Quad Cities, which is a banana foster latte.”
But with rain showers expected this weekend the Mississippi River could rise once again, potentially reaching between 18 to 20 feet.
“We are prepared, but we aren’t trying to think of that,” says Cartee. “I think we’ll be fine, unless it gets about that 15 to 20-ft range again.”
Milltown Coffee isn’t the only business on the river’s edge that reopened, across the river the Freight House Farmer’s Market is gearing up for vendors to set up their stands in the parking lot.
“Looks good, smells good again,” comments Lorrie Beaman, Executive Director of the Freight House Farmer’s Market.
The flood has put the market in limbo the past month. It’s had to relocate to the Scott County Administration Center parking lot for the past few weekends.
“It’s to the point now when our vendors will start really feeling it,” Beaman says.
When Beaman heard this weekend’s rainy forecast and the chance of the parking lot around the market, it made her anxious.
“It was a pit in my gut, I thought ‘you got to be kidding me’,” says Beaman.
Now, she’s keeping her finger crossed, so she can be left with certainty of the Mississippi staying in her banks.
“I am very nervous about that, but we just have to roll with it and make the best of it,” Beaman says.
To get to Milltown Coffee you can access it through the back alley or a stretch of River Driver. As for the Freight House Farmer’s Market you can only enter using Western Avenue.
