KEARNEY, Neb. — When Paul Younes drives around his property, his mind flashes back to 2019.

"We have around 100 acres of ground," Younes said. "All of it was underwater at one time in this area. You don’t know where is the lake, where is the ground, because everything was covered with water."

The memories are especially present this week. Tuesday marks the five-year anniversary of the July 9, 2019 flash flood. Younes owns several hotels in a hospitality district on the south edge of Kearney.

“In less than 35 minutes, the water went from the lakeside all the way to the Hampton," Younes said. "It went very, very quickly. Between 8:30 and 9:30, the water was already passing Talmadge St. and all the way north of the Hampton.”

Emergency Manager Darrin Lewis was supposed to meet another county’s emergency manager at the Younes Center at 8:00 that morning. He canceled at the last minute to monitor the water levels.

“By the time 9:30 rolled around, that other emergency manager’s truck was sitting in three foot of water,” Lewis said.

The flooding caught everyone off guard. Kearney got between four and seven inches of rain overnight. It was a lot, but not enough to sink a third of the town. The problem was to the west. The National Weather Service says between eight and 11 inches fell onto already saturated ground from Lexington to Odessa. That runoff collected in small streams and a wave of high water flowed east into Kearney.

“We cut some drainage ditches to help mitigate that to get the water to drain quicker," Lewis said. But it was like a concrete swimming pool down there. It just stayed and stayed and stayed.”

Two conventions were in town and the Younes hotels were nearly full. First responders used airboats and construction equipment to evacuate guests. The University of Nebraska-Kearney opened its dorms to house Younes employees and people who were stranded, like the Connelly-McKee family from Illinois.

“Everyone's just been very calm like they had a plan in place already," Paul Connelly said to UNK communications staff in 2019. "It's not an act that happens very often... they made it feel like they had it covered all the way.”

Infrastructure and property took a hit. Lewis says the county suffered more than $70 million in damages. Beyond Kearney, rural areas and small towns were also under water.

Marci Granados of Gibbon told us in 2019 that she was flooded out in March and again in July.

“It got all the electrical outlets, the electrical panel this time," Granados said. "We had to rip out all the drywall and insulation again. The flooring has to be replaced. Everything that we’ve done this far, we’ve got to do it again.”

Despite the chaos, there were no serious injuries. While the flood and its aftermath linger as a nightmare for Younes, the safe outcomes for his guests remain a point of pride.

“We told everybody, today we are in this position, tomorrow we’re going to get better, the day after will get better and we’ll come out of this stronger and better equipped for the future," Younes said. "God was with us and he helped us tremendously to help us to be where we are today.”