Christian bookstores felt the impact of relentless storm systems that dumped torrents of rain for a week, flooding huge portions of the upper Midwest.

Locals said the flood that hit Iowa's second-largest city, with a population of 120,000, is far worse than the deluge of 1993, The Washington Post reported. About 25,000 residents have had to leave, and hundreds of homes and businesses have been damaged, many of them severely. More than 400 blocks of downtown Cedar Rapids were evacuated, including a jail and a major hospital. City officials said initial estimates of property damage total $1 billion, USA Today reported.

"I don't want to downplay the effects of Hurricane Katrina, but this is every bit as bad," Steve Pickering, owner of Lemstone Christian Stores in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, told Christian Retailing. "Some businesses will be closed for months. We didn't have any damage to our store, my home or my children's homes. Most of (the) damage was six miles from here and it's been devastating."

Pickering, who noted that business was down 40% last week, said he had planned to be closed for Father's Day to be with his family, but he decided to open the store yesterday. "Our sales were good," he said. "More than half of the purchases were for flood-related products from people replacing Bibles and wall art to people buying books of encouragement for people displaced."

Pickering, who celebrates 20 years owning the 5,000-square-foot store next week, said "the impact is going to be financial." "We anticipate business will be down in the next couple of months," said Pickering, who has 14 employees. "I've already talked to staff and we'll be cutting hours."

Family Christian Stores, which has six locations in Iowa, including one in Cedar Rapids located near Pickering's store, declined to comment.

Jennifer Clemens, who works at Stepping Stones Christian Bookstore & More in Grinnell, Iowa, located about 50 miles from Des Moines, told Christian Retailing that business in the last week "has been slower than usual." "We got a ton of rain, but we didn't flood, so it didn't affect us like everybody else," she said.