Heavy rain floods popular Tavares waterfront bar, Lake Harris Hideaway

Heavy rains flood Lake Harris Hideaway bar

Lake Harris Hideaway Bar in Lake County was open on Monday, Memorial Day, after strong thunderstorms on Saturday caused flash flooding inside the bar. Video showed a mass rush of water flow into the bar, including where a band was playing.  The bar's owner said some fencing, tables, and boards were damaged, but all that matters is that everyone -- the staff, customers, and band -- were OK and safe.

TAVARES, Fla. - Heavy rain caused flooding at a popular waterfront bar in Lake County over the weekend, forcing a band to stop performing as water rushed through the building.

Video captured by members of the Maiden Voyage band shows water flowing across the floor inside Lake Harris Hideaway on Saturday night.

What they're saying:

On a typical night, the bar sits beside the lake, but during the storm, the bar itself appeared flooded like one.

"We couldn’t do anything; there was nothing to stop it," said band member Brian Sweezea.

Sweezea said the group had been performing outside when the weather suddenly worsened.

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"It kind of started to rain harder and then a little bit harder, and then at some point they had everybody go inside," he said.

The band continued playing indoors at first, unaware of how serious the situation would become.

"We just kind of kept playing. We didn’t think it was that bad until it got bad," Sweezea said.

He said water then began pouring into the building from an unexpected direction near the parking lot.

"All of a sudden, water just started to flow in from the direction we weren’t expecting — the parking lot area," he said.

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Band members quickly worked to move and protect their equipment from the rising water.

"We have an audio snake, we call it, where we plug in all of our audio cables. That did get some water intake, but that’s going to dry out," Sweezea said.

Bar owner Jason Kelyman said the storm also caused property damage outside.

"Had some tables swept over, the wind busted down some fences, had some deck boards that came up," Kelyman said.

Still, he said protecting people remained the top priority.

"Everything else we can rebuild, but we can’t rebuild each other," Kelyman said.

What's next:

The owner said crews plan to further assess the damage Tuesday.