Seagraves business prepares for new round of rain after May floods

LUBBOCK, TX (KCBD) - With rain expected across the South Plains on Wednesday night, Gaines County residents are preparing now, hoping to avoid another devastating flood.

Many residents in Seagraves were displaced from their homes because of the heavy flooding back in May.

But it wasn't just homes that were hit with flooding, local businesses also saw quite a bit of water.

Employees at Higginbotham and Bartlett Company in Seagraves tell us they are already preparing sand bags for Wednesday night's rain, hoping that they don't see a repeat of May's floods.

"It was like, about four inches got into the store," the yard hand at the lumber yard, Johnny Mann said.

Mann was at home when the flood hit the store earlier this year, but remembers coming in early the next day to help clean up.

An aerial photo shows the lumber yard and the store completely surrounded by water.

"It was bad, we probably mopped like 10 to 15 times in the whole store," he says.

There were aisles of water inside the store, and nearly five months later, you can still see the marks that the water left behind.

"We were sweeping it out and every time somebody would drive by, they would drive up there and push all that water back in," he says.

Residents in Seagraves area all described the same thing, they could see pieces of lumber just floating down the street.

"It was mostly our pallets that floated out," Mann says.

Now, Man is filling up bags with sand, hoping to prevent the store from seeing four inches of water again.

"I've got sandbags ready," he says. "I'm going to set them out here in a little bit. So, if we need to, I can set them up and keep it out of the store."

Mann tells us he does feel a little more prepared this time around.

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