It's making things very tough for some of these communities, especially small ones. The expensive flood damage to roads, homes and businesses makes it tougher and tougher for some small towns to stay afloat.

Asphalt, gravel, even homes and businesses are expensive to replace or fix up after powerful floodwaters take their toll.

“These folks have been three months working on this place right here. They worked very hard, and they're very nice people. They just completed it, and it got them again,” said Glendell Shepard of Galena.

In neighboring Hurley, where roads are torn up once again, the city budget relies on the goodness of its citizens.

“Most of the work is volunteer. That's how we can afford it, because the city buys the materials, and the volunteers around here put it back,” said Hurley Mayor Bert Bond.

In Reeds Spring, where flooding is no rare occurrence, this time it was much more severe. Many homes and businesses sustained damage on Saturday, and more appeared Sunday morning.

“Overnight, the water table apparently rose enough that water started coming in the back of the building, and when I got here after Mary's call, there was over three inches of water on the floor and more coming in all the time,” said Jim Walker, Reeds Spring’s Emergency Management director.

Because of a new spring that’s popped up, the owners of a future antique shop have put in a permanent sump pump. They’re not alone in having to deal with water problems. A downtown pottery shop seems to have sprung a spring too. And a longtime business in the community, Pop's, is also dealing with damage -- the most severe outside.

“Asphalt's expensive- petroleum, you know,” said Leann Minscer of Reeds Spring.

“We will be probably a week or better finding out all the damage and the cost of it,” said Walker.

For these small towns, there's a little to cover the damage from such a rainy day.

“You put aside for emergencies,” said Minscer.

But not a lot, and just the down time from the flood hurts even more.

“Businesses that have been open and generating sales tax revenue for us are going to be closed for a few days, while they clean up,” said Reeds Spring Mayor Paul Lear.

Though it's slowed them down, they're not giving up.

“This may set us back a little bit, but we're determined,” said flood victim Kelby Ayres of Reeds Spring.

“We'd just like to let them know we'll reopen as quick as possible, and we hope to see them all back here soon, and thank you for being very patient with us,” said Minscer.

Folks in these flood damaged areas say they hope their state representatives will be able to survey the damage, and they hope that will eventually lead to some kind of disaster assistance. But so far, a lot of volunteers are helping with cleanup; everyone has pitched in to help out.