Some flooding at King of Prussia mall

Flooding from torrential downpours forced closures today at one of the East Coast's biggest shopping zones, King of Prussia Mall, as retailers scrambled to vacuum water off carpets and fix damaged computers.

Only one department store - Lord & Taylor - at the massive complex shut down after overnight flooding reached sections of the Lower Level of The Plaza, one of the large compounds of stores at the popular mall.

The food court, which took on the most water after the swelling of nearby Abrams Run stream, was expected to be closed all day, while other retailers managed to open as cleanup advanced through the afternoon, said mall marketing manager Kathy Smith.

Cleanup began at 6 a.m. - four hours before the mall opened at its regularly scheduled 10 a.m. time.

"The bottom line is that, with approximately 10 inches of rain in Montgomery County in a number of hours, flooding ensued," Smith said. "When there is no where for the water to run any further, it stays on the ground and goes where it can."

Smith estimated that a half-inch to an inch of water pooled in the lower level of the Plaza, where some of the mall's swankiest retailers have stores, including Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Hermes.

Among department stores, though, only Lord & Taylor kept its doors closed to shoppers, Smith said.

The early-morning scene outside in the parking lot and inside the mall between Nordstrom and Lord & Taylor was a mud-coated one made all the more hazardous by slippery leaves, said Vania Gollatz, who works for one of the stores in the Plaza.

She arrived just before 7:30 a.m. after getting a call from her employer asking her to rush over and help, she said. Inside and out, there was mud, water and leaves, even along the mall concourse, she said.

"There was so much mud that my entire toes were covered with mud, my leather boots," she said.

Gollatz tried to make her way to the food court, where tables are in a sunken area walled in by stairs, "but I couldn't go any further because the water was really high," she said.

She heard someone later say, in jest, that the food court resembled a muddy swimming pool.

By midday, with insurance officials and cleanup crews on the scene, retailers were making progress in drying and scrubbing floors, polishing fixtures and identifying damage to electrical systems, she said. An estimated 40 percent to 50 percent of stores on the lower level were still working to undo the damage.

"We feel like the mall is in good shape," said Smith, describing the scene as "incredibly crowded" today despite the challenging environment faced by clerks and store staff.

The Plaza was expected to be operating fully Saturday morning, except for the Food Court, which Smith said might require a few additional days of cleanup work.

King of Prussia has more than 400 stores.