Herb Millman and John Dwyer, the owners of Cockamamie's on West Bridge Street, said they had taken everything out of their windows, disconnected all electrical cords, put all lamps on furniture and basically cleared the area in case the water rose to the windows.

They were also planning to put plastic sheeting around doors using duct tape to seal the doors, put sandbags in front of that and turn off all power in the building.
They said they were told that in the flood of 1955 there was four feet of water in the store and that, if that happens again, then the most valuable pieces would be higher. As of that Wednesday afternoon, the National Weather Service was predicting the Delaware River's crest would be somewhat comparable to the historic flood of '55.
Millman said they do not have flood insurance because it is "very costly."
"You go with the flow, and when it's all over, you clean up and you open your doors," Millman said. He also said he didn't know when they could be back in business if they did incur any damage. "If it's as bad as it was in April [2005], we'll be up and running in two days," Millman said.

He also said he thinks the flood would not stop visitors but would attract them because they want to see what was flooded, and many already have reservations for July 4th weekend.
Millman and Dwyer remarked how business owners and residents were pitching in to help each other. "One of the great qualities about New Hope is the people who live here and work here," Millman said. "In the end, we may have our differences, but we all help each other."

Bryan Montgomery, who has owned Three Cranes Gallery on South Main Street for four years, said that the advance notice this time around gave him enough time to put all of his merchandise in a rental truck and drive it to higher ground.
He echoed Millman's assertion about flood gapers.

"Believe it or not, last year it kind of helped business," Montgomery said of the flood. "You've got to try to get open really quick right after the flood so you can catch all the people coming up here to see the flood so you can sell them stuff."

John Whitehead, the owner of 90 Main Restaurant and Sushi Lounge, at 90 S. Main St., said he was "a lot better" prepared than the last two times.

Aside from lifting everything to the highest ground possible, he took food to Triumph Brewing Company, Union Square, which let them use their freezers and refrigerators.
Whitehead said on June 28 he hoped the situation would be different this time because he is on public water, not wells. Last time had to be closed longer because of the wells.

"It kills us," Whitehead said of the flood. "The summer hasn't been good to begin with, and this is one of the best holidays all year for us -- we'll probably be out $50,000 to $60,000 just for the weekend."

As for New Hope's four-legged denizens, Billy Camburn's got them covered.
The co-owner of Porches on the Towpath bed and breakfast, Camburn is a coordinator with the animal rescue group Noah's Wish.

"Our house guests were the number one priority, and my pets are my number two priority," Camburn, who lives on the property, said June 28. Noah's Wish is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated exclusively to rescuing and sheltering animals during disasters. "I spent 32 days down in New Orleans area rescuing animals," Camburn said. "We had 2,000 animals in our shelter." As of June 28, Camburn had placed three dogs in an area kennel.

Jennifer Redfield, who lives at 58 North Main Street with her husband, Alex, said they have been there five years. Alex is the great-grandson of painter Edward Redfield.
"We've moved all the furniture up to the second floor," Jennifer said. "We've removed the hot water heater, taken the air conditioning compressors, taken the breakers out of the basement, moved everything out of the lower cabinets. Basically, everything is out of the basement and off of the first floor."

She said they would probably hole up with her in-laws until they could be allowed back into their home. Jennifer said they have to have flood insurance to be eligible for a mortgage for a house on the river. "We've been pretty fairly compensated," she said of past flood insurance claims.

Marc Fresco, also of North Main Street, said he's had his house for about five years.
He said all the utilities in the basement were removed, all their furniture was brought up to the second floor and the stove and refrigerator were raised three feet in preparation for last week's flooding.

Fresco said he would stay nearby because he is a member of the fire company.
He was also disappointed with the flood insurance he had last time around.
"It barely paid for a heater," Fresco said. Eagle Company Fire Chief Thomas Markey said on June 28 that utilities to the center of the borough were being switched off. He also said his crews were trying to keep everyone out of the flood area.
"The drill has been pretty well completed," Markey said. "Because of the last two floods, everyone understands what to do."

The fire chief said "a ton" of people had called to volunteer, and he was grateful for the cooperation on all sides. "The emergency management of the borough, the fire department, the rescue squad, the police department all thank the communities -- both New Hope and Solebury -- for all their effort," Markey said. "We'd also like to thank the bridge commission for all of their assistance along the river."

 If the floods have taught us anything, it's that New Hope people are resilient.
Jeff Izes, the co-owner of 90 Main Restaurant and Lounge on South Main Street, said last week they opened for business after being closed for four days following last month's flood. After the April 2005 flood, they were closed for 13 days."Our people were absolutely amazing," Izes said, adding that volunteers from the borough also helped with the cleanup. Having public water also helped them open early because they didn't have to wait for a well inspection, Izes said. He said the restaurant was "packed" when it first reopened Sunday, two days before July 4. "We were really excited," Izes said. He said they lost as much as $20,000 because they were closed for the weekend, and 60 percent of their business usually comes in on Friday and Saturday. Izes said the most recent flood cost them $7,000 to $10,000 out of pocket because they do not have flood insurance.

Chris Reshower, whose mother's home is located at 24 Waterloo Street, said they have had "great help" from Mayor Larry Keller, who has been physically helping out by getting mud and muck out of the house.

Dee Rosenwald, Reshower's mother, has owned the house for 38 years. She said Keller has been "heroic." Rosenwald said she has been in as many as 13 floods but most have been minor. She said she had the lower level of her riverside home tiled to make cleanup easier. "This has been a shock, a real shock," she said, noting she thinks the river is not being taken care of properly. "I think there's a neglect upstream of the people downstream who suffer a great deal," Rosenwald said, noting she believes that reservoirs are being emptied upstream and causing the floods. "Somebody has to do something about it."

Ellen Bollenbacher, the co-owner of The Landing restaurant on North Main Street, has had the restaurant for 30 years. She said the river reached onto the dining room floor, a couple of inches lower than April 2005, but the damage, while a lot less than before, was identical. Bollenbacher said they "totally stripped" the restaurant of utilities and appliances, so that the walls and floor suffered the greatest damage.

Taking a cue from the last flood, they had a custom bar built made so that they could remove it in case of flooding, and that worked well this time around, Bollenbacher said. While it is "too early to tell" how much damage was done, the inside of the restaurant should be done by the beginning of August, Bollenbacher said. The Landing opened its outdoor section last Friday. "Each flood we get better -- we opened within seven days," Bollenbacher said. She had nothing but praise for the Eagle Fire Company for its help in getting mud out of the building by hosing down floors. "The help that we had from our staff was just phenomenal," she said. "We all cleaned up and worked together as a team."

Bollenbacher is a fire police officer with the New Hope volunteer company. Her husband, Chris, is a fire police captain, also with Eagle. Chris is also co-owner of The Landing. In those roles, they helped secure the town overnight, while the river crested on July 29. Theresa Rubio, the co-owner of Mother's Restaurant and Wine Bar on North Main Street, has been there two years. This is her third flood.

While the result was pretty much the same as last time, her response was quicker this time. "It went a lot faster because we were so much more prepared a head of time," Rubio said. "We learned from the last flood." She said they stripped all the utilities and appliances from the restaurant and got all the food offsite.
The clean up crew was done in two days, "which was a huge difference from what happened last time," Rubio said. Mother's was closed the previous Wednesday and reopened the following Friday.

She said the Greater New Hope Chamber of Commerce and the borough rounded up volunteers, three of whom were sent to help at Mother's and who "were absolutely outstanding." The April 2005 cost her $100,000, and this time looks to be the same, she said. Rubio has flood insurance and the last time that covered almost everything.

John Larsen, the owner of John and Peter's, South Main Street, said he had much help from The Raven, Zoubi and Millbrook Farm, who allowed him to store beer and perishables. Axel Olsen has lived at 52 North Main for two-and-a-half years. "This time was almost exactly the same as last April," he said of the flood, which almost reached his first floor. He said he had to replace a furnace, a water heater and an electrical panel.

The last flood cost him between $6,000 and $7,000. Alex Redfield, the great-grandson of painter Edward Redfield, has lived at 58 North Main for five years. Redfield also removed all utilities and appliances and stayed at his parents' house in Doylestown for five or six days.

Edward Kolbe, the owner of the Trading Post of Bucks County on North Main Street, said this flood dumped about two feet of water into his building, about a foot less than in April 2005. He said the Eagle Fire Company helped with the cleanup effort a lot.
"We had a tremendous outpouring of support from the community," Kolbe said, helping him be two weeks ahead of where he was at last year. He said he wants to get it cleaned up in time to open for what's left of the season. Kolbe said he sold the entire contents of his store to a salvage company for $30,000 but that they are worth as much as $150,000.

He is starting from scratch -- the salvage company might take four or five days, then the cleaning crew will come in and powerwash and scrub, then carpenters will come in and do all the drywall and all the electric. "Just like last year," Kolbe said. He has flood insurance for the building, but not the contents. Fred Miller, of 16 East Mechanic Street, is one of the owners of the condominiums at 10-16 East Mechanic Street, one of the hardest hit stretches in the borough.

The owners plan to raise the whole structure at least nine feet starting this summer. Miller said it could cost about $900,000. It was a plan that was first put in motion earlier this year, well before last month's flood.
While the water level was about the same (four feet on the first floor), there was much more destruction this time around. According to Miller, all the condominium owners have flood insurance. They were better prepared this time out and emptied their first floors, he said. Keller, earlier this week, was upbeat about the cleanup effort.

"Overall, I think it went very, very well," Keller said. "I think that it's obvious that people have learned from some of the mistakes they've made in the previous floods."
Keller also praised the Eagle Fire Company, New Hope Borough Manager John Burke, New Hope Police Chief Richard Pasqualini and New Hope Public Works Director Tom Carroll. "I think we did a terrific job as a town," Keller said, noting members of New Hope Borough Council also helped out.

"They were on top of it the whole time," he said. Ninety percent of the businesses were open as of Monday, Keller said. And 90 percent of borough residents were back in their homes within about a day-and-a-half, he said. According to Burke, the borough placed six dumpsters around the borough to help with cleanup, comparable to the April 2005 flood.