WAVERLY - The sign out front says it all:

"We'll be back."

"I have worked too long. Too hard for a flood to say I am done," Cyndi Ecker says.

The record flood of 2008 nearly claimed her along with her third-generation family business, Ecker's Flowers and Greenhouse in Waverly. Ecker and her husband, Lyman Campbell, were rescued by boat when Fifth Street flooded.

"We had no other way out," she said.

"I was ticked, sitting in that boat thinking, 'What next?'"

Two days later, the infectious cheer that won Ecker so many loyal customers kicked in. She thought about ways to keep the business going.

"I am working on the paperwork for an SBA Disaster Assistance Loan," she said.

In the meantime, the florist is designing and filling customer orders. "We have a wedding this weekend and fresh flower arrangements for the chapel at Wartburg College," Ecker said.

The design room isn't the same. The Peddle Pusher Cooler is empty. Buckets once filled with muddy water are now filled with fresh flowers, arriving daily by overnight delivery.

While dealing with her own flood problems, Ecker has also kept her obligation to the Waverly community. She is the 3rd Ward councilwoman and has attended numerous meetings listening to resident's flood concerns. "We are all in this together," she said.

Ecker's Flowers and Greenhouse was not covered by flood insurance.

"We didn't have a mortgage and the cost would have been too expense for a small business like ours," Ecker said.

In 1993, Ecker installed a new boiler in the greenhouse that was lost in the flood. "We will no longer have a winter greenhouse," she said. They will however, have a three-season greenhouse. "When we rebuild, we will have more open showroom space and move our gift department upstairs."

"It's a slow process, but we are open for business delivering floral arrangements to our customers," Ecker said.

Ecker's Flowers & Greenhouse is at 410 5th St., NW and can be reached at (319) 352-1910.

Contact Gloria Aleff at

newsroom@wcfcourier.com.