HENDERSON — Around 10 p.m. Thursday, business owners along Corbitt Road received some unpleasant news — their units were taking on water.

At least one storm drain got clogged and, like a big concrete bathtub, the parking lot began to fill with water. Steven Spence, owner of Deep South Tattoos, was sloshing around knee-deep in a pool of stormwater Thursday night, searching for the drain to no avail.

The drain has presented a consistent problem for local businesses. Spence, who has operated the tattoo parlor going on 20 years, said Thursday was the third time he has seen a great buildup of water. Never before have the businesses been so waterlogged, he recounted.

Donials Fogg, owner of D. Fogg’s Barbershop, has seen similar chronic problems.

“I’m upset,” Fogg said of his feelings on the matter. “I’ve never seen it so bad. It’s unbelievable.”

Spence said he had reached out to Mayor Melissa Elliott and that he was sure the clog would be cleared. Public Works did indeed stop by later on Friday and cleared the roadway drain — although one employee at Deep South later noted their drains were still stopped up.

Nobody, said Spence, had routinely cleaned the drain in all those years.

Hair Shack owner Tammy Williamson and Shannon Harris, one of the stylists on staff, recalled having to stuff towels under the door to prevent water from “gushing in.”

The water soaked a $1,500 spa bed, many furnishings the two couldn’t stack on a chair and stripped the enamel coating off the wooden floor. WW Properties, which owns the parcels, “squeegeed” the floor.

That night, the mom and pop shop owners saw a car hydroplane and float, nearly, until it came to rest a few feet off the road. Another drove into the puddle and its passengers fled the vehicle, heading to the nearby hill. Law enforcement came by and blocked the street with cones thereafter.

Neither Spence nor Williamson had flood insurance — that area is not a flood zone — and renters insurance doesn’t cover that sort of damage, creating a financial headache for the small business owners.