Memorial Day Flooding Damages Austin Restaurants

Yesterday’s torrential Memorial Day thunderstorms caused massive flooding in areas throughout Austin, including near Shoal and Waller Creeks, as reported by KUT and many other publications. North Lamar Boulevard near Ninth Street was one of the stretches hit the hardest. Shoal Creek, which runs alongside the highly trafficked street, overflowed and quickly surged into roads and businesses, including restaurants and bars, in the area.

Lamar near shoal creek saloon. Worse I've ever seen. #atxfloods #atxweather pic.twitter.com/rmfI1hXRSC

— Kelly Slifka (@AUSTINSWEATHER) May 25, 2015

@outandabout @waltmac @scottfisherFOX7 @RMaxwellKXAN @AshleyG_KVUE @KeepAustinWierd @365ThingsAustin 12th & Lamar Vid pic.twitter.com/9HFciYdDyC

— The Dude* (@MikeHolp) May 25, 2015

Cajun restaurant and bar Shoal Creek Saloon, drive-thru Fresa’s Chicken Al Carbon, and pig-loving Bacon all will remain closed as the restaurants figure out the extent of the damage. Shoal’s is no stranger to flash floods after last fall.

Shoal Creek Saloon begins the cleanup process. pic.twitter.com/CiZjvrGY1W

— KEYEPhotogs (@KEYEPhotogs) May 26, 2015

Over on Sixth Street, Waller Creek flowed onto Easy Tiger’s creekside patio, as seen by this video by Tarun Nimmagadda on Instagram. The downstairs portion of the restaurant closed early last night at 5 p.m., followed by the bakery upstairs at 10 p.m. After last summer's flood, the bakery and beer garden knew how to prepare this time. A rep told Eater that the staff moved furniture, including the ping pong tables, to avoid damage. All areas of Easy Tiger are open or will open today at the usual time.

Flooding at Easy Tiger on Waller Creek

A video posted by Tarun Nimmagadda (@ntarun) on May 25, 2015 at 2:47pm PDT

The North Loop caffeine institution Epoch Coffee, located further up on Waller Creek, had to temporarily close due to flooding. The coffee shop cleaned up and reopened after a few hours.

If you know of any other affected restaurants in Austin, please let Eater know on the tipline or in the comments below. Eater has reached out to all affected restaurants; watch this space for updates.

Update, 1:15 p.m.: Randi Jones Hensley, manager at Epoch, told Eater that the North Loop shop was closed for three hours from 2-5 p.m. The Anderson location took on some water, but the staff kept it at bay with sandbags made with coffee grounds in trash bags. "At one point, we moved everyone in the store into our windowless lounge area," she said, "because the sky changed color pretty quickly and we were worried that there might be a tornado."

On Tenth Street near South Lamar, this is what Bacon’s outdoor area looked like today after the flood.

Assessing damages at Bacon restaurant pic.twitter.com/2p0w5IXc6t

— AustinCodeDepartment (@Austin_Code) May 26, 2015

There was flooding outside of JuiceLand on Duval and 45 Street as well. Because of the water, ice cream shop neighbor Sweet Ritual closed early yesterday.

Flooding at 45th & Duval in front of Juiceland #atxweather #atxflood @KUT pic.twitter.com/VuF0UWP1sG

— Parisa Fatehi-Weeks (@PFatehiWeeks) May 25, 2015

Fresa's Al Carbon is now open, according to its Instagram post.

We are back open!!! Thank you to our team, neighbors and friends for all of the help!

A photo posted by Fresas Chicken (@fresaschicken) on May 26, 2015 at 10:58am PDT

Update, Thursday, May 28, 4 p.m.: After Wink and Wink Wine Bar both suffered flood damage on Monday, as noted by Austin 360 on Twitter, the restaurant will open tonight at 6 p.m. The wine bar will open within the next two days.

Shoal Creek Saloon is working to open by Saturday, as reported by The Statesman's Lilly Rockwell.

Just spoke to owner of Shoal Creek Saloon. Got 4 ft of water. Hopes to re-open by weekend. #atxfloods @statesman pic.twitter.com/dQelfId6bM

— Lilly Rockwell (@LillyRockwell) May 26, 2015

Bacon is still closed until further notice. The restaurant posted an image of damage to the interior of the building on Facebook.