Omaha brewery reopens this week after flood damage

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The paper sign is still on the door here at Vis Major Brewing Company telling customers, sorry we’re closed until further notice because of flooding.

The downtown flooding we saw in Omaha on August 7th sent water rushing through the brewery. It caused cracks in the foundation and left them out of commission for almost two months.

“I totally have like PTSD from it,” co-owner Lindsey Clements said with a laugh.

She can chuckle now as she looks forward to the grand reopening scheduled for this Friday, but the night water flooded in was a different story. She shared a picture with 6 News of the wall, old bricks pushed out a foot and a half by the force of the water.

The only thing stopping the wall from going completely were some walk-in coolers in the basement.

“We brought in engineers to help us assess it in order to determine if the building was still safe,” Clements said.

Thankfully, the engineers found it was. The compromised north wall wasn’t a key support fixture.

Their next hurdle came with trying to find someone up to the task of fixing the damage.

“There’s so much damage all over the city from residential to commercial spaces, a lot of those companies that you know, you call on during times like this were booked out very quickly,” she said.

It took just over seven weeks, but they have a new wall, the floors are clean of any debris and mud and they’re ready to serve customers again after their hiatus.

“After recovering from the trauma of what happened, you know it’s, I’m finally at that place where I’m just like let’s get back to it. I’ve had my recovery, my rest, I’ve had my hard work in between and we’re ready to get back to it,” Clements said.

Back to it, with the hope, this level of flooding never happens again. The doors for the reopening will open at 3 p.m. Friday.

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