WEST ALLIS, WI — On a good day, Kimberlee Grob's office phone rings often with orders for her business, Locker's Florist.
It's amazing progress for a building that was under feet of water just a month ago after historic flooding in Wisconsin.
Grob remembered her thoughts as she saw images of flooding from the first night of the floods.
"There's cars floating down the street, not very far from the flower studio, and I'm like, 'there's water in there," Grob said.
Grob lost most of her business's computers, delivery boxes, paper, and all of her fresh inventory that was in the cooler. In addition to walls and a delivery van, she says she's out almost $50,000.
"It's very much like starting over; you have to replace so much," Grob said, "So many things that were continuing to work for you, things we were still paying for and things that we need to serve our customers."
In times of disaster, the U.S. Small Business Administration offers low-interest loans for recovery efforts. It's an intriguing program for Kimberlee.
"If the payment situation was so that we could deal with it, absolutely," Grob said.
An SBA spokesperson tells TMJ4 the SBA was out with FEMA during their tours of the Milwaukee area damage, but applications for those loans aren't available in Wisconsin yet. That won't happen until a presidential disaster declaration has been issued.
Two weeks ago, Governor Tony Evers asked for that declaration. It would open a pathway for all kinds of funding, including FEMA assistance to homeowners and renters, and possible early access to retirement funds without penalties.
Watch: A Wisconsin small business owner waits for a disaster declaration after floods
"I personally have been reaching out to our senators to try to encourage them to push things along and try to get us the help that we obviously need here," Grob said.
Grob is confident she'll be okay, but she's very concerned about her West Allis neighbors who have been hit hardest.
"I really hope that the president and his administration and the people involved with disaster relief will really take a hard look at Wisconsin, especially as we head into colder months here," Grob said.
According to the SBA's disaster search, the last three declarations went to Louisiana after a chemical fire and Tennessee and Georgia after flooding. All three of those incidents happened after Wisconsin's floods.
This story was reported on-air by Brendyn Jones and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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