Bradenton business owners complain about flooding

BRADENTON, Fla. - The sign says Sunny Florida Cars, but Wednesday was anything but sunny for Samyr Madkor. 

"This is my garage," he explained, pointing to standing water. "It gets worse than that."

Samyr, the service manager, put cars on a lift to keep them out of water.  A room with parts was underwater. His office was another story. 

"We don't keep any electrical stuff on the floors when we know it's going to rain like this," he said. 

Before they even opened their doors, a downpour shut down part of 9th Street West in Bradenton. 

"The water was already backed up to where people couldn't pass on the road," said Matt Hayward. 

General manager Matt Hayward said it's not the first time. 

"There's definitely a problem down here. I feel bad for the business owners as well as the homeowners down here. It's got to be a real problem with the water," he said. 

After a few hours, the water eventually goes down. 

The City of Bradenton said their drainage system is constantly monitored.  They said the problem was not a blockage, but high river levels mixed with a high tide gave the water no place to go. 

Business owners believe there's a bigger problem. 

"They probably need to come in here and see why it's not draining," said Curt Mahoney who owns Discount Lock and Key. 

Mahoney said it's been an issue for decades. 

"We've been here since the ‘80s. They fix it a couple of times. But it never really fixes. It always does this when you get a hard rain," he said. 

He watches as neighboring businesses and homeowners deal with flood waters from a simple daily storm. 

"I'm better off because I have this concrete piece here. Across the street it goes right into their building," he added.