FRANKLIN, Va. — Twenty-five years ago, a devastating flood swallowed the city of Franklin. You'll see a reminder of how high the water got on a marker outside of Fred's restaurant, which is considered the heartbeat of this community.
Watch: Aerial footage of the Franklin flood
Melissa Rose, a long-time customer says, "Well everybody loves Fred's. Fred's been around a long time and it's a great gathering place."
Multiple businesses, including Fred's, were flooded and underwater. Dave Rabil, the owner of Fred's, doesn't even like thinking about the the historic flooding.
"Yeah wonderful, glad it's behind us. I try to forget it," he says.
Watch related video: Community looking for help to rebuild Franklin Southampton Fairgrounds
Mary Christy Saunders is another business owner who tries to forget about the impact of Hurricane Floyd.
"It was devastating, absolutely devastating. So we don't talk about it." She co-owns Mackans with her sister, which is not too far from Fred's. While it's been 25 years, to Mary, the trauma is still fresh.
"I don't want to think about it. I don't want to think about it to tell you the truth because it was, it was a terrible, terrible day," she adds.
The impact of Floyd claimed 182 businesses and 100 homes. City hall, fire, and police services had to be moved out of the flood zone. Over the next few months, more and more businesses had to make a decision, rebuild or move on.
Watch related video: How the coastal climate impacts Virginia and North Carolina
Dave Rabil looked back on an interview he did with News 3 following the flood 25 years ago. He remembers saying that he would be one of the first ones to come back and rebuild.
Mary Christy Saunders says they too were determined to rebuild.
"It's probably our family strength and backbone that we have that we're not going to let anything tear us down," she says.
"Some chose not to come back. Some moved from down here to other areas to get away from the possibility of another flood happening but we're like this is home," she added.
The flooding from Floyd was called a 500 year flood. The former mayor at the time, Jim Council, says there is no way to prepare for an event as tragic and historical as Hurricane Floyd.
"There's no way to prepare for that," he says.
"What you can do is improve your information. I spent about a year working with seven counties all the way up the Blackwater River to the headwaters, to have them partner with us to put in rain gauges with the Corp of Engineers so we could monitor the water levels upstream," he adds.
Watch related video: Tropical Storm Francine still causing a threat across the South
Council too reflects on the impact of Hurrican Floyd. He says, "Blessings that we've recovered. We're not where we once were and probably going to take longer to even get there."
Out of the 182 businesses shut down by the flooding, 140 to 150 have reopened, but not all of them in the downtown area. Thinking about the volunteers who showed up in the aftermath of Floyd, some from outside Hampton Roads, Council gets emotional.
"They could have the day off full pay if they wanted to go down and volunteer and they had 50 people that came down and outfitted them with gloves and everything to help out people they didn't know," he says.
"We didn't ask them, they just came. People caring about people...it's about caring."
"People caring about people" helped this community recover from a life-altering storm.
Watch related video: Francine leaves 400k without power in Louisiana, now a tropical depression
