LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – A day after dramatic video showed water pouring down a staircase inside part of the Mellwood Art Center due to a water main break, business owners are making sense of what happened.
One of those business owners is Michele Sumpter who owns Acupuncture and Fire Cupping, an acupuncture and massage studio.
“It’s hard to be self-employed as it is, but this definitely feels like a set back,” Sumpter said.
The shock of the devastation was still setting in Sunday morning when Sumpter first arrived at her studio. She drove through the night, coming back from a vacation to see the damage first hand.
“It’s just a mud path,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ve lost yet. My electric table is my bread and butter and I don’t know yet if it works because I’m afraid to turn on the electricity. I see that my massage chair was water logged.”
Louisville Fire Department says a water main break is to blame for the flooding. This isn’t the first time Sumpter’s studio space has taken on water.
“We’re close to the river, this happens. You see my things are propped up on the shims and stuff,” she said.
Sumpter said she’s never seen it this bad, and with the work week quickly approaching she has to make a plan and fast.
“I guess I’m going to contact my patients and let them know we’re gonna have to figure out something else,” Sumpter said. “I don’t know if I’m going to need a temporary place to work.”
Still, she’s staying optimistic through it all.
“In the end, it’ll all be fine, and if it’s not fine then it’s not the end right? So we’re gonna pull it together, start again what else is there.” Sumpter said.
Sumpter said she hadn’t heard from anyone at Mellwood Art Center. WAVE also reached out to the center but have not heard back yet. Sumpter said maintenance workers from Mellwood were going around to businesses with vacuums to try to dry some of the water.
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