News

Actions

Pungo restaurant floods “worse than ever before” on same day twin brothers purchase property

Posted at 3:34 PM, Sep 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-18 16:25:11-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Tuesday was planned to be a momentous day for the Cleanthes brothers. It still was, just not how they planned.

After seven years of leasing the property where their Blue Pete's restaurant sits along N. Muddy Creek Road in Virginia Beach, close to Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge, twin brothers Nicholas and Aristotle were making the plunge to buy it outright.

Then the water started rising and kept rising thanks to southern winds, flooding the property like they've never seen in those seven years of leasing.

"It is the worst it has ever been and it’s getting worse. The water is continuing to rise. The wind is continuing to blow," Nicholas told News 3 anchor Todd Corillo about two hours before the closing was set to happen.

This isn't the first time they've dealt with extreme flooding. News 3 was there at the end of July when waters steadily rose up on the property.

This time though it seemed worse, much worse.

"I think a lot of water is in the restaurant, yeah. We picked everything up yesterday a good solid foot which is higher than we’ve ever picked anything up. But the water keeps coming up, so we’ll see how it goes," Nicholas shared.

Despite the flooding, which has the restaurant closed until further notice, the Cleanthes brothers never had a doubt in their mind about going through with the purchase.

"My brother and I, we’re dreamers, and we feel like if we give up on this part of the town then the city won’t focus on it too much so we’re just going to try and push through it and preserve and figure out a solution to this reoccurring problem that seems to be getting worse," Nicholas said.

So Tuesday afternoon they officially closed on the property, committing themselves to a community they grew up in and have continued to love.

"It doesn’t give me any second thoughts. We are very positive minded. Life throws obstacles in your way and you just preserve and fight through them, we’ve been fighters our whole life."

Already they're making plans to reopen. Nicholas says they plan to call upon a friend who works with PRO-MIT to help them clean-up and dry-out the damage.

They also hope to rebuild the restaurant in the future and raise it up to avoid future flooding.

No matter what happens though, the Cleanthes brothers say they're not going anywhere and neither is Blue Pete's.