BILLINGS — Record rainfall that poured over the weekend flooded hundreds of homes across Billings. That means companies like Newman Restoration and Cleaning and Alpha Omega Disaster Restoration have been flooded with calls.
Newman Restoration and Cleaning cleared hundreds of gallons of water from a basement at a West End home Sunday morning. It was just one of many homes the company visited over the weekend.
“We’ve had 99 phone calls and then we have 70 active jobs going between commercial floods and residential floods,” said CEO of Newman Restoration and Cleaning, Andrew Newman.
Newman said they began receiving calls late Friday night and they just didn’t stop.
“In the eight years that I’ve been in the industry, (this was) by far the worst flooding caused by a rainstorm that I’ve been involved with,” Newman said.
His team is working 15-hour days to keep up with the demand. Newman said it’s a reminder of what happened last summer in Red Lodge.
“I’m going to be honest. In 24 hours, we took on twice as many calls, twice as many jobs as Red Lodge,” said Newman.
The same sentiment is shared by Levi Gray, the repairs department manager at Alpha Omega Disaster Restoration.
“Red Lodge was devastating. There was a large amount of calls for that, but this event totally makes that pale in comparison,” Gray said.
Alpha Omega has been working on a building at the City College since Thursday.
“We had crews going from nine o’clock that night until three or four in the morning. Get a couple hours of sleep, come back in about eight o’clock Friday morning and continue on through the day,” said Gray.
Though the work is laboring, both companies intend on helping as many folks as they can in a time when they need it most.
“Most importantly, we just take it very seriously. When somebody’s at their breaking point or at their worst, we want to come in at our best and be there for them,” Newman said.
