When Martin Goebel walks into his St. Louis furniture business each morning, he peels back the blue tarps he used to cover his machines and half-finished furniture the night before.
He’d much rather be sketching designs, brainstorming with clients and making new pieces for his business, Goebel Furniture. But his creative work and growth plans have taken a back seat since 2021, when, he said, a storm tore through his building, leaving lasting damage and, as he puts it, thrusting him into a legal battle with his insurance provider.
The storm ripped off part of his roof, exposing the space to every weather event since then, Goebel said. In St. Louis, that’s no small threat — the city experiences 40 to 50 days of thunderstorms a year, according to the National Weather Service…