Nashville Businesses Begin Cleaning As Waters Recede

The flood waters have receded from downtown Nashville. There is quite a bit of business activity there, but it is not the ringing of cash registers.

Last week, downtown Nashville in the western section was under five feet of water. Now, businesses are trying to recover.

McDonald's was soaked from the inside out, and Subway was submerged.

However, one week makes a lot of difference. Subway has opened again.

"When I first saw how much water was in there, I did not think I would open for at least two or three months," said business owner Thaer Hasan.

Many business owners are gutting their walls and removing the insulation because they are saturated with contaminated water.

Hardee's is undergoing a massive reconstruction. The project supervisor said he had never seen damage like this before.

"Anything under the flood level is destroyed. It is contaminated, and you can't use it again. That is just all it is to it. We're starting from scratch. We're tearing down to the bare walls and replacing it with new," said supervisor David Beasley.

Beasley estimates that it will cost up to $300,000 to repair Hardee's.

The owner of Subway says Hurricane Floyd has cost his small business about $10,000.

"I hope we will make it up because we are one of the first stores open. Who knows, but we hope so," said Hasan.

That Subway has the 'OK' of health inspectors, but it does not have a building permit yet.

The town is still trying to figure out how they are going to enforce the building codes because they have never had an event like this.