Business at Broken Oar Bar 'crippled' after flood

PORT BARRINGTON – The staff at the Broken Oar Marina Bar & Grill held their breath as water from last month's flood began to cover the parking lot.

Much of the restaurant's parking lot, at 614 Rawson Bridge Road in Port Barrington, was covered with water. If a couple more inches of rain fell, the restaurant would be in danger of flooding.

The water never made it high enough to enter the building, but flooding elsewhere on Rawson Bridge Road prevented many would-be patrons from getting to the restaurant.

“It crippled our business,” said Bonnie Miske, general manager at the Broken Oar. “A lot of people from the west couldn't reach us.”

Miske said the bar had two-thirds less business than it normally would this time of year due to the flooded road, which was closed from April 18 to May 1.

That, combined with a misleading report by WGN News that implied the business was closed, made for a stressful two weeks, Miske said.

“WGN posted a picture of the closed road on Facebook and implied that we were closed too,” she said. “Word on the street was that we were closed.”

The Broken Oar is another example of how the recent flood has wreaked havoc on McHenry County. Many residents and businesses are looking at months of recovery and cleanup.

Information on flood insurance, low-interest loan programs, and FAQs for people affected by the flood can be found at www.co.mchenry.il.us.

“We survived,” Miske said. “We're OK. It's the residents I really feel for. It was the worst flood I've ever seen.”