Just checked a satellite map.
Looks like two bridges go to that mall.
There’s a hill behind the mall, wondering why people couldn’t be sent up the hill to a road on the top of it.
It also looks like people could walk around the flooded creek and get to the highway. Someone with a chainsaw could probably clear a path in half an hour. I used google earth and measure the distance from the parking lot to 79...300 yards.