Flood damage struck this small business days after big win

I want to take you live to McKaysville, Georgia right now where crews and volunteers are still cleaning up and let's take a live look at the traffic camera. You can see a Georgia. Patrol vehicle there along with a barrier there and that's because obviously some of the roads are still closed up in Fannin County and crews and volunteers are still cleaning up after last week's devastating flooding. As that work continues, Fannin County officials are pushing back on false claims about what caused the disaster. Emergency management officials say extreme rainfall overwhelmed local waterways and drainage systems and that a dam failure or release did not cause the flooding. So some roads could remain closed. through Wednesday or Thursday as crews work to clear debris and restore utilities. McKaysville's boil water advisory remains in effect and customers with service are asked to conserve water. Free tetanus shots are available at City Hall in McKaysville and the Salvation Army is serving three meals a day at a city park through Saturday and the Red Cross has opened a shelter at the Fannin County Recreation Department in Blue Ridge. And businesses in McKaysville and Copper Hill, Tennessee, are still cleaning up, trying to figure out what comes next after last week's devastating flooding. Joining us now is Gavin Loth, COO of Barefoot in Blue Ridge. He's one of the business owners dealing with that damage firsthand. Gavin, I appreciate you joining us this afternoon, and I just want to offer my heartfelt sorry for you guys that you guys are having to deal with this. Yes, sir. Thank you, Tyler. I appreciate that. And it has been quite devastating for not only us, but all the other businesses and residents in the Twin Cities and the surrounding area. Yeah, I mean, the video coming out of McKaysville in Copper Hill, Tennessee, I mean, just to see the area just underwater, the river overflowing its banks. I mean, how are you guys doing and how is your company doing? So, you know, my wife started and branded this company six years ago. She's the CEO and maker and founder of this company. She makes all 10 years of the products that you would see in our store typically, minus the bougie wax candles that my mother-in-law makes. She came out with five years ago. So we've literally put all six years of our time, energy, money, and energy Resources into what was the contents of this store, so we will temporarily set my wife back up in the household in the basement as she was there only 14 months ago. We were at Farmers Markets Festival for the first five years and growing that soap studio in the basement. So that will be a way for us to unlock the website and get that open again and start fulfilling our wholesale orders that were damaged in the flood. We're now playing video right now that I believe you gave our Jim Zorn who is out there with you where you can see kind of what was left after the flooding receded and then now we're looking at video of the water rising in there. When you saw this video and then when you actually got to see firsthand the damage, I mean what went through your mind? The side window here was blown out, and you can probably see that in some of the other photos and stuff like that, and when that happened, the waters came in to around four feet on the walls. It was absolutely devastating for my wife. She was watching the live footage on her ring camera. We were not able to recover that footage of the waters rushing in when the side glass broke here. The house provisions line that was standing on that corner piece is gone. Clearly, it maybe fell over from the waters that were coming from the back of the space to kind of tip that piece over and crashed into that window is what we're thinking because that piece is MIA. Thank you very much. But yeah, absolutely, she was watching it live. Honestly, we were not able to recover that footage, and I don't think she was meant to see that again It's something that was, I could tell was really breaking her. So y'all just had a grand re-opening, or sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead. No, no, no. And I would say the next morning when I stepped in the side window is the easiest way for me to get in here because all the back doors were all, you know, I couldn't get in. It was just. To look at the six years of stuff that we put into the store in the last 20 years that we've really busted our butts just to be able to get to the point where we could start a business six years ago, it was devastating. As you can see the footage, the camera, the videos, and the whole area was completely covered with product and all the display pieces were turned over, a water purification system at the back there that we use for all of our purified water, completely destroyed. Everything was just in shambles. And so you're about to ask something Well, yeah, and y'all just had a grand reopening after winning Best of Tennessee 2026, and obviously now you're having to rebuild here. I mean, obviously winning a Best of Tennessee or winning the Best of any state is a proud moment, and you want to be able to serve the customers who maybe just newly discovered you guys, and then this happens. I mean, what is it going to take to be able to rebuild that brick-and-mortar store there so that you can continue to serve people who want to walk in there and say hello? Yeah, so we did already reach out to Best of Tennessee and let them know that like we kind of need a second whack at it because this all this happened like 10 days ago, much to your point, we did a ribbon cutting ceremony with the Tennessee side and announced that my wife had won the whole health and beauty category for the whole state of Tennessee. Absolutely incredible. What a proud moment. Thank you for having me. Kind of brought me to tears in that regard, and now obviously the devastation here is kind of a little bit different. But that being said, yeah, the banner is hanging out front. The award was still on the pillar. The Love Lock cages where people have locked so many loving memories, like Bridge Lock concept, are still standing out strong out front. We just hung a brand new one, almost completely empty, on last Tuesday. So the memories that have been created out front on those Love Locks and this store will be – the plan is once the contractors come in here and gut it, We're completely out. It took us three days, thanks to all the volunteers. We had three to five friends lined up every single one of those three days, three to four days. Ten volunteers, 15 volunteers, they were here in abundance. Like I can't say enough how much we appreciate all the support. But what will it take? It will take, it took us 14 months to get to the store exactly the way we wanted it. For us, we have some walls we need to replace beyond that. We just need the space to be gutted. And the landlord is already reassured. They've assured us that they're going to come in and replace the subfloor, the floor we've already ripped out for the most part, all the walls and all the breaker panel. The whole thing was completely destroyed. They'll go ahead and replace electrical HVAC. And then once the space is put back in a shape where we can get back in here, we'll move back out of the basement of the household and move back in here if that's the way it pans out. At the end of the day, we're talking about tens of thousands of dollars worth of damaged stuff in here. And so we We just can't say enough for all the support that boots on the ground to actually get the store gutted, but also just the support in general. My sister-in-law did start us up a GoFundMe page, and we can't say enough for all the support that's already coming through that. The information is really easy to find on that. It's just go to GoFundMe, look up Barefoot in Blue Ridge. Please, you know, this is a way you can support us. We certainly, we don't, we're not gonna ask for support and help like this, so we do appreciate our sister-in-law setting that up for us, and we do appreciate everybody that's been giving massive denominations of support. I can't say enough, each of these people, this is your, excuse me, this is your hard-earned money, so we can't say enough how much we appreciate your support. I mean, so we, I just want to mention for anyone watching, we have put the link for the GoFundMe on our website, fox5atlanta.com. I just talked to our digital content team just a short time ago, and we have it on the story that's on our website on the main page right now about how the recovery efforts are continuing. Gavin, I am so sorry for what you guys are having to deal with. Clearly, We'll It feels good that people are willing to donate. I mean, you look like you already had about $6,000 and you had family and friends coming out to help you guys clear all of this. be What's your message for folks who are sending help right now up to McKaysville right and to Copper Hill, Tennessee after this? What do you want to tell people? We're far from the only business, and like I said, residences impacted in a devastating way around here. back. So based on what I know from the 1994 flood that I was told, that it will take longer on the Tennessee side to get the government organizations like TEMA and FEMA involved and maybe their support financially. This initial support is insurmountable. It's something that It's absolutely needed to be able to supply, you know, buy supplies, be able to fulfill those wholesale orders, get the website unlocked for us personally. But the residents and the people that are impacted, thank you for all the supplies. I mean, there's a whole stocked full courthouse right up the street here. I was shocked. That was the first time I took them up on it yesterday. And one of their batteries of pallets, pallets of batteries and just anything you could possibly need. But. Ultimately, when the Twin Cities does bounce back, because it will, Well, and hopefully Barefoot and Blue Ridge in this location as well, come here. Support. Come to the Twin Cities. It's got two trains, lines that run into town. The Blue Ridge Scenic Railway has got one coming from Etowah, Tennessee as well. You've got two rivers parted by that bridge back here, the historic bridge. And you've got... Uh, uh, Two states, so two states, two rivers, two trains, the most unique in the whole country. It's very awesome, and it's got a lot of awesome stores and restaurants to offer. So please, you can come here and just come to the awesome Twin Cities once it's bounced back and just check out what's an awesome city. That's definitely the easiest way to support, but find these people's GoFundMe pages and find ways that you can support them from afar. Not everybody could come and put boots on the ground, but the people that did, once again, I can't say enough. Ace Hardware, Blue Ridge, providing a water tank out front, other businesses stepping up that could that weren't literally in the floodplain themselves. Yeah, Gavin Loth, I appreciate your time this afternoon to talk about this. And again, we put the GoFundMe on our website for folks watching. Fox5Atlanta.com, just look for the story about McKaysville and Copper Hill, Tennessee. Gavin Loth, I appreciate your time. And we're obviously thinking about you as you guys rebuild. Thank you, sir, Mark, so much. I really appreciate you keeping our business, our household, because like I said, all three of the members of our household are all fully in this building right here, too. So thank you, sir. Gavin, thank you so much.