Madison (WKOW) — Heavy rains flooded parts of Dane County in August, including Odana Road in Madison.
As cars were stranded that Monday night, the water started rising inside Schwoegler’s Park Town Lanes.
Up to four feet of water came into parts of the building, destroying much of the lanes.
Now, after more than three months, Schwoegler’s is ready for bowlers.
The sound of pins crashing was music to people’s ears.
It’s finally the time that many at Schwoegler’s have been waiting for.
Greg O’Brien has been coming here six times a week since 1972.
After the flooding in August he was one of many volunteers who helped clean up the mess.
“It’s just like anybody else’s home, this is kind of my second home,” O’Brien said. “We bowl here a lot and if your home was destroyed like that, you do everything you can to get it back up in order.”
About half of the lanes at Schwoegler’s are ready for bowlers but the other half still need a little more work.
That’s not going to stop them from opening up for league play on Monday.
“There’s still a lot of working construction Monday through Friday during the day, so we haven’t been offering any open play during those times,” Robert Bloxham, the supervisor at Schwoegler’s, said. “After 6 and on the weekends we’re open, we have a few going.”
Bloxham says the rebuilding process taken a lot longer than expected.
The original end date was scheduled for November 15, that was when the winter leagues were originally supposed to start.
Now Bloxham says most of the work is done, the rest is just finishing touches.
“All 36 lanes should be open by the end of the week, start of the weekend,” Bloxham said.
For now there are 16 lanes open.
Monday, there should be 22 for the around 175 teams to play on when the Winter Leagues start off strong.
With that O’Brien is looking forward to one thing.
“Just getting back to normal,” O’Brien said. “It would be like if your house was destroyed just getting back to having Christmas back in your house, just getting life back in order.”
Schwoegler’s staff members are planning a grand re-opening event in January.
More on this story at WKOW 27 News