[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.91″ custom_padding=”0px|0px|0px|0px” next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”2px|0px|8px|0px” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Featured Image caption” _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px”]<\/p>\n
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Three years after a devastating flood, the names of businesses at the Old Mill mall are displayed on a board in front of the rustic mall.<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.92″ custom_padding=”2px|0px|37.9062px|0px” prev_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0px|0px|18.9531px|0px” custom_margin=”10px|||” _builder_version=”3.0.92″][et_pb_column type=”2_3″][et_pb_text admin_label=”News Story” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|”]<\/p>\n
Many businesses are still rebuilding three years after catastrophic flooding covered much of the Midlands and destroyed millions of dollars worth of property.<\/p>\n
The Old Mill Brewpub in Lexington had 15 percent of their outdoor dining space completely destroyed during the flooding but has made progress rebuilding the damaged structureThe restaurant now operates full-time as it rebuilds its customer base.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI refer to Fred Flinstone how he drives his car. He stays in one motion until if finally takes off. That\u2019s basically how our business restarted,\u201d owner John Clinger said.<\/span><\/p>\n The restaurant located at the back of the Old Mill mall was damaged in 2015 when heavy rainfall caused the dam to break on the Old Mill Pond in the pub\u2019s back yard. Since then, rebuilding the restaurant\u2019s customer base has been slow.<\/span><\/p>\n Heavy rains began on Oct. 3, 2015 and eventually 20 inches of rain breached 40 dams throughout the Midlands and state and devastated homes and businesses.<\/p>\n After a miscommunication from the Old Mill owners, which operates the two-story rustic mall, residents thought all Old Mill businesses were closing post-flood.\u00a0But once word spread that that was not the case, some tenants flourished.<\/span><\/p>\n Watershed Fellowship, a non-denominational Christian church that aims to be a “community of small differences that has a lasting impact,” was able to expand after the Old Mill Pond dam burst.<\/span><\/p>\n Kevin Thumpston, pastor of Watershed Fellowship, said the landlord had given them full rein on the layout of the bottom floor after other businesses made the decision to relocate rather than rebuild. The church tripled in size adding four new nurseries, a new bathroom, a teen center, a conference room, a cafe, and an expansion to their worship center.<\/span><\/p>\n Officials with the town of Lexington have confirmed that they are planning to repair the broken dam and refill the pond. Town officials are anticipating making the entire area recreational with parks and a boardwalk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Co-owner of the pond, Laban Chappell, has been working over the past few years to find the cheapest way possible to repair the dam and pond.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_3″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 1″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/SeatingArea.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 1″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n The view from the Old Mill Brewpub outdoor dining area was destroyed three years ago after the Old Mill Pond dam burst during major flooding that devastated the state.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 2″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/OldMillPond2018.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 2″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Overgrown weeds and a small pool of water are all that remains at the Old Mill Pond.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image 3″ show_in_lightbox=”on” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”||2px|” custom_padding=”|||” animation_style=”slide” box_shadow_style=”preset2″ box_shadow_horizontal=”4px” box_shadow_vertical=”4px” url_new_window=”off” use_overlay=”off” always_center_on_mobile=”on” force_fullwidth=”off” src=”http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/KevinThumpston.jpg”]<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text admin_label=”Caption 3″ _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”|600|||||||” text_font_size=”12px” text_line_height=”1.4em” custom_margin=”8px|||2px” custom_padding=”|||”]<\/p>\n Watershed Fellowship pastor Kevin Thumpston stands in what used to be Rainy Day Pal Books. The space is now one of four nurseries for the church.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Old Mill is back in business. Tenants of the Old Mill in Lexington were greatly affected by the 2015 Flood. Three years later, they are still working to get things back to how they used to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":12912,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[96,210,86,195,77,119],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12649"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12649"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13158,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12649\/revisions\/13158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}