An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the Stuecken Branch in Treloar as Charrette Creek and has been corrected. The Record regrets the error. 

Dave Bakameyer was working in his garage in Treloar on the morning of July 16 when what appeared to be a routine summer storm turned into something much more frightening. 

Bakameyer’s garage sits near the middle of Treloar in southwest Warren County and is adjacent to the Stuecken Branch, which flooded most of the town during the storm. 

“We basically had a wall of water come down the creek,” said Bakameyer. 

He said within minutes of the flooding reaching his garage, there was two feet of water crossing Highway N into his garage. Thankfully Bakameyer was able to move many of the cars and electronics from his shop to protect them from further damage, although he did see significant damage to his shop and the concrete surrounding the building. 

PHOTO GALLERY: View additional photos and submitted video from the storm here. 

Jesse Anderson owns some farmland north of Treloar on Charrette Creek Road, and said he received a call about the flooding while he was at work. He quickly returned home to discover that the raging water had cleared most of his crops and washed out his gravel driveway. 

All things considered, Anderson said they were fortunate not to see further damage to their house and property. Upon his arrival he said there was “not much I could do but start cleaning.”

Others were not so lucky. 

John and Lisa Ketterer, the owners of the Treloar Bar & Grill, were no strangers to flooding. During previous incidents they had been able to move equipment from the kitchen into the bar area which sits on higher ground. 

This time it was no use, as water rushed through the kitchen and into the bar, leaving marks on the walls up to nearly three feet high. According to John there were times when the water rushed even higher than that. 

In the past, we’ve had some floods in the kitchen, … but it was only to the bottom of your feet, that was in like 2020, it just come on the floor, so usually we’d bring stuff up and (the bar area) was safe. It wasn’t safe this time,” John said. 

This time, the flooding poured straight through the building, washing out thousands of dollars of equipment, spreading products all the way into nearby fields and even blowing out one of the walls. 

The Ketterers said the damage was so extensive they had turned down offers to start a GoFundMe page because they were unsure if the building was even safe, or if they would ever be able to reopen. 

They rent the building from Bakameyer, and neither of them have flood insurance. 

“Obviously for us, it’s a total loss, we want to be back for the community but we just don’t know,” Lisa said. 

Both Bakameyer and the Ketterers were grateful for the community’s support and Bakemeier said that within hours of the storm passing, there were citizens out on the streets helping to manage the cleanup. 

According to Jim Sharp, Warren County emergency management director, the National Weather Service first issued a flash flooding watch at 9:30 a.m. and then two subsequent, narrowed flash flooding warnings at 11:30 a.m. and 12:01 P.M. in Treloar. 

During the chaos, there was also a tornado warning issued, along with a radar confirmed tornado at 11:37 a.m. according to NWS St. Louis meteorologist Chris Kimble. 

Kimble said that the tornado briefly touched down north-northwest of Treloar, damaged and downed trees could be found along Koch Creek Road near its intersection of Hoelscher Road in the days that followed. 

Sharp also outlined some steps that residents could take to mitigate the dangers of flash flooding, especially in circumstances like Treloar’s where, for many, the flooding came on too quickly to leave. 

As far as the flash flooding, you just have to get out of the water,” said Sharp. “If it’s all around you, you just have to get up on something, get up on a desk, on a table, something that the water is not going to grab you and drag you.”

Sharp also advised homeowners to be wary of any structural damage and reach out to providers like their electric and utility companies especially if they suspected there may be issues. 

He continued, stressing the importance of reaching out to insurance providers as well, and documenting as much of the damage as possible before starting to clean the area. 

“You’re going to want to clean it up, especially after a flood. You’re not going to want to sit there for a day or two and let things just kind of soak while you wait for an adjuster, so get pictures quick, document what you can and then start cleaning up,” Sharp said.