While many neighborhoods stand silently in the flooding of the Arkansas River, some businesses are finding a way to survive despite the water.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — While many neighborhoods stand silently in the flooding of the Arkansas River, some businesses are finding a way to survive despite the water.

Many streets are closed in Little Rock’s Riverdale neighborhood because it borders the Arkansas River, including the road off Cantrell Road that leads to the Junior Deputy baseball complex and several businesses.

“It’s a little bit quieter,” Justin Hoadley said Monday afternoon. “We’re used to having—of course—more traffic through the complex. But we’re here, we’re holding on.”

Hoadley was one of a few employees hard at work at Tanarah Luxe Floral. Inside, it resembles any other floral studio: wood furnishings adorned with bouquets of various colors and sizes. The gentle bubble of a tabletop fountain provided the only sound of water. The shop is an oasis of calm: water filled the parking lot of the Capital Park business complex, and the last couple of dry parking spots were right outside Tanarah’s door.

“Friday morning, our complex decided that we, they needed to evacuate as much as possible,” Hoadley mentioned. “But, obviously, being a florist, it’s hard for us to say, ‘well, we’ve got weddings and we can’t do them this weekend.’”

Hoadley, Tanarah’s Director of Planning and Coordination, said the Capitol Hotel and Cantrell Furniture Design Center became Tanarah’s temporary studios.

"It was interesting,” he said. “We had three vanfuls of stuff that left. And you know, with flowers, it's temperamental because they're a fresh product, so you've gotta make sure you have a cool environment for them. And like I said, Capitol hotel was very gracious to let us come in a borrow a room and turn air down, so, yeah, we were still able to make it happen.”

While the Tanarah staff organized their studio and filled orders Monday afternoon, a steady stream of people passed by with their cameras in hand.

“We’ve had the onlookers all day,” Hoadley said, “that have come back and wanted to take pictures and just see what it’s doing.”

Some wanted to continue down the driveway toward Cajun’s Wharf, the restaurant and bar that closed permanently on May 31. It was known in part for the views of the river from its deck; now, water envelops it.

Others fixed their lenses on the nearby Junior Deputy baseball fields, all of which were overtaken by the Arkansas River last week. Its spring season was just wrapping when the flooding began. With summer sessions a few weeks away, its organizers are optimistic they were be able to repair the fields in time but realize they will not know the scope of the damage for a few more days.

“It’s definitely a phenomenon to watch how powerful water can be, if you’re not used to that,” Hoadley mentioned.

The property manager at Capital Park said the water is coming up from the drains and guessed that it had risen two feet since Saturday. He has made frequent visits to the complex to check on potential damage to its tenants and keep out people who might hurt themselves or the businesses.

Hoadley said his studio has a lighter workload this weekend than last weekend, so adapting to the conditions should not be as challenging. But with more rain in the forecast, he was aware that the conditions could change quickly.

“We’re hoping,” he said, “we can still be here (Tuesday), but if we can’t, we’ll just, we’ll find that out tomorrow.”