OTTUMWA — Don’t let all the water in front of Carroll Rents fool you. The new business is open at Wildwood Drive and U.S. Highway 34.

All the ducks in the Bear Creek neighborhood have been enjoying the “lake” that was in front of Carroll Rents and across a large section of Wildwood Drive. Last Tuesday morning I saw them swimming close to the “Now Open” sign on the front of the building.

Store Manager Jeff Spurgeon said the business is in its “third full month” and “never did close” through the flood crisis. The rising water level came within 8 inches of the building.

“Now we’re moving sandbags and cleaning up the mess,” Spurgeon said Friday.

Owned by Steve and Kathi Carroll, the business offers a wide variety of equipment contractors or homeowners may want to rent. Spurgeon said Carroll Rents also has the “heavy-duty homeowners stuff,” such as tillers and sod cutters.

“We’ve started an addition for our showroom where we’ll have a full line of fasteners and hardware, job supplies and anything hardware-related,” he said.

Carroll Rents also offers small equipment repair, trailer sales, repair and rentals and hitch installation. Call (641) 684-4052 for more details.

I’d heard Carroll Rents was the “only business” in the city surrounded by water. That intrigued me so I checked the site last week and met the ducks, who were enjoying their “lake.”

I’m the city reporter so I went to City Hall to ask Mayor Dale Uehling if he recalled what that corner looked like in 1993.

“It’s not in the city,” the mayor said. “Team Duea elected not to annex.”

Team Duea was the car sales place that previously had the corner when more business development occurred west of the car lot. The corner appears it’s in the city with Menards and Wal-Mart up the hill and Kmart and Quincy Place Mall to the east.

Dale referred me to Dave Shafer, the city ‘s planning director. Dave printed out a map and showed me the zigzag of city boundaries in that area. There are a couple of residences south of Carroll Rents that are also in the county.

More than once source has told me Bear Creek “always floods.” After the deluge we’ve had, any creek would. I don’t recall what the area looked like in 1993. I just know that was more water than I’ve ever seen before on that corner.

I’m a lifetime south-sider who lives within a few blocks of the Des Moines River. Ol’ Man River is just on the other side of that wonderful levee system, which is emergency equipment to me. Please stay off my equipment before you break it.

So many individuals, businesses and members of the National Guard have helped this city through the mess.