By GREG OLIVER – Producer, SLAM! Wrestling<\/p>\n
WATERLOO — It’s one thing to read about the flood damage to the Dan Gable International Wrestling Institute and Museum, but it’s another thing altogether to witness it — and to smell it.<\/p>\n
With the museum’s 10th annual “Super Weekend “under way in Waterloo, Iowa, fans — and writers — were allowed to wander through what once was a terrific exhibition of wrestling through the centuries.<\/p>\n
The mustiness and the wet is impossible to describe; it must be smelled. Despite a dozen fans going, the muggy air outside made its way in, mixing with the stale air inside, a sad tonic of mildew, mold and broken dreams.<\/p>\n
According to museum staff, the cleanup cost — ripping out damaged walls, furniture, carpet, gift shop merchandise — rang in at $60,000. And the museum was hardly the only place to suffer in Iowa. Others lost their homes as the various rivers across the state overflowed following torrential rainfall a few weeks back.<\/p>\n
Museum staff believe that storm sewer backup is more to blame for the flooding at their location than the nearby Cedar River; buildings a block away barely got water in their basement, and others were destroyed.<\/p>\n
An estimate Thursday pegged the repair cost to get the museum back up to what it was at around $250,000, which includes drywalling, a new furnace, and other parts of the building. That doesn’t include the replacement of display cases, merchandise or, perhaps most tragically, the priceless memorabilia and collectibles.<\/p>\n