As heavy rain fell across Southwest Louisiana on Thursday, roads flooded like Sallier Street in Lake Charles. (Brad Puckett / American Press)
Rainy days hurting some local businesses
Last Modified: Saturday, July 14, 2012 2:22 PM
By John Guidroz / American Press
Several days of heavy rainfall has hurt some local businesses that do most of their work outdoors, while others are working through the sloppy weather to meet customers’ demands.
Kyle Clawson, general manager of Graywood Plantation, said the rain affects many parts of their business that rely on each other to generate income, like the golf course, tennis courts and restaurants.
“We rely on rounds of golf and tennis,” he said. “They are our main attractions. If people can’t go out, then nobody buys shirts or (golf) balls. It’s a trickle-down effect.”
Clawson said the rain also makes it hard for landscape workers to keep the golf course adequately maintained.
“Our crew can’t get out in this weather,” he said. “When there’s a day of heavy rain, it’s likely that tomorrow we couldn’t get out either because that would do more damage.”
Clawson said he hopes all the rain will mean big business when the weather clears up.
“Hopefully, a lot of people will have cabin fever,” he said.
Norman Pharr, director of Sulphur Parks and Recreation, agrees, saying rain keeps people away from the golf course and water park and also makes it difficult to maintain the course and some baseball fields. But, he said, McMurry Park, which will host the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team’s “Battle on the Bayou” softball tournament today and Saturday, is ready for action.
“We have turf, so we will be ready to go,” Pharr said. “We’re going to hope (the weather) won’t affect attendance. We could play right now.”
Richie Everage, landscape department manager for Landscape Management Services, said many of their employees are out of work during bad weather.
“We are 50 employees strong, and there are some that don’t have salaries,” he said. “They have obligations, (and) we can’t afford to pay them a full week’s pay. That’s hard on us as managers and owners.”
Everage said several days of constant rainfall hurts business and delays projects from being finished on time.
“It can make our month nonprofitable,” he said. “Along with that, a week’s worth of wet weather puts us 10 days to two weeks behind once it drys up.”
While bad weather brings activity to a halt for some businesses, Clint Coleman, manager of Eubank’s Detail Services, said they received calls from people Thursday asking if their cars could be detailed.
“I’ve done eight full complete details this week,” he said. “You would never think someone would drop their vehicle off in the rain to get it detailed, but they do it.”
Jareth Navarre, sales manager for the Billy Navarre Chevrolet Cadillac car dealership, said the rain has not slowed down business.
“I’ve got six people in here right now,” he said. “If you’re good at what you do, the weather shouldn’t matter.”
Ashley Lyons, office manager for Arabie Roofing Co., said they can’t afford to stop work because of bad weather.
“We’ve been swamped,” she said. “We don’t have any rainouts. We put our slicker suit on and fix the problem.”
Andy Tingler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles, said nearly 6 inches of rainfall has been recorded since June 6, and that just over 1 inch of rain fell Thursday. He said the area could expect an 80 percent chance of rain today.
The Lake Area has received just over 41 inches of rain so far this year. The area normally receives 30.11 inches by this point of the year. He said the area received nearly 39 inches of rain during all of 2011.
Posted By: Miles Lyons On: 7/13/2012
Title: To Ashley
Ashley Lyons captivated me by her answers in the interview she was given. She seems like she is a women with a lot of integrity and life experience. Any man would be lucky to have her as a wife.
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