WATERS RISING — The Ohio River rose above its bank beneath the Last Resort Riverfront Bar & Grill at Toronto’s north end. The water entered the riverfront restaurant on Thursday, but thanks to the hard work of many volunteers and its owners and staff, the business was able to reopen Saturday evening. -- Contributed

TORONTO — While waters from the Ohio River entered the Last Resort Riverfront Bar & Grill and pushed many of the docks from its marina downstream, the business was able to reopen on Saturday evening thanks to the support and effort of many community members.

“The support was just truly overwhelming,” said Dave Ott, who owns and runs the business at the city’s north end with his girlfriend, Jennifer Parisi.

“The community has provided overwhelming support. We love what we do here and apparently the people in our community do, too,” he said.

Ott said after the river receded, more than 50 volunteers worked within a 12-hour period on Friday to clean and disinfect the building with tools ranging from squeegees to a pressure washer.

Following an inspection by the Jefferson County Health Department, the restaurant was able to reopen for dinner on Saturday, he said.

Ott confirmed there’s still more recovery ahead for the nearly two-year-old business.

While he and his staff had raised much of the furniture above the flood water, the furnace and two coolers were casualties.

But the biggest loss is about half of the docks that had accommodated about 50 boats in the restaurant’s adjacent marina.

Ott said some of the docks were washed away to Browns Island, striking the bridge there, and were destroyed. Some are unaccounted for, but half had made their way to Merco Marine, a dock building company at the north end of Wellsburg, he said.

Ott expressed gratitude to Merco’s owners for their assistance in recovering the docks.

He said local businesses also have played a big part in Last Resort’s recovery.

Ott noted some of the cleaning supplies were donated by White Glove Supply of Toronto, while Tri-B’s Coffee Shop supplied coffee to volunteers involved with the cleanup.

He said the local coffee shop’s owners, Abby and Andy Lemasters, also have made plans to hold an event to raise money for the docks, while others have set out collection jars.

Ott hopes to have the docks in place for Memorial Day weekend, noting the business has drawn many boaters for the holiday weekend in the last two years.

He reiterated how much he appreciated the community’s support.

“It’s nice when a community works together. Everybody works together in a small town. I’m just grateful that everyone has accepted us into this one,” said Ott.