By Mike Hazlip—
Businesses weathering the economic storm fueled by COVID-19 restrictions are now recovering from this week’s wind storm, which severely damaged outdoor canopies.
A large tent Crunch Fitness set up in their parking lot on San Juan Avenue partially collapsed, with significant damage observed. Logan Ginn, general manager for the location, told The Sentinel he evacuated gym members when the winds picked up.
“The winds picked up around 7:30 p.m. and I evacuated everyone out of the tent,” Ginn said. “I chained it up, locked it up, and we are not going to touch the tent until we get the guidance to restructure it and make it stronger.”
Ginn said the structure remained standing during regular business hours, but collapsed just after 12 a.m. Wednesday. He said some fitness equipment had rust damage, but no other damage was immediately visible.
Similar tents used for outdoor dining at Texas Roadhouse were also damaged. Manager Austin Melton said some of the tents were set up just weeks ago. Melton told The Sentinel in an interview Wednesday some structures were completely destroyed.
“We did have three tents on our back patio that are completely destroyed, blew over our railing,” Melton said. “Most of the tents out here are skeletons now, we actually took off the tarps last night in the rain to prevent them from blowing away.”
The back patio of Texas Roadhouse is near Sunrise Boulevard, but Melton said the tents were secured to the building and no debris was in the roadway.
He said the restaurant was renting some tents for “a couple grand a month,” but had purchased additional tents at a cost of $2,000 to $3,000 each.
Buffalo Wild Wings next door was relatively unscathed, according to manager Dan Moraida. He said the building’s overhang protected much of their outdoor seating, but a tarp needed repairs.
Moraida said he was more concerned with food spoilage when the power to the refrigeration equipment went out.
Sacramento County Board of Supervisor’s Chairwoman Sue Frost took to social media to voice her frustration over what she called an inflexible approach from the state, which required many businesses to operate outdoors to stay open.
“As we all batten down in our homes for a major storm, I hope that everyone is staying safe,” Frost said. “I can’t also help but think about how the state’s ‘Blueprint for a Safer Economy’ does not allow businesses to adjust to dangerous conditions. So while trees are collapsing and tents are being toppled over, restaurants and gyms are forced yet again to shut down.”
This week’s storm caused downed trees and power outages throughout the region. SMUD’s outage map shows 1,663 Citrus Heights customers were still without power Wednesday night. A 61 mph wind gust was recorded at McClellan Airport Tuesday night according to KCRA Meteorologist Mark Finan. Weather data from MesoWest shows another gust of 67 mph was recorded at the same airport Wednesday morning.
A broken limb on Cross Drive was hanging from wires Tuesday night. A resident who did not want to be identified told The Sentinel he was still waiting for crews to arrive more than an hour after calling the utility. Internet lines were also down in other parts of the city.
A statement from SMUD said crews were working around the clock to restore power.
“All available crews continue to work 24/7 to make repairs and safely restore power as quickly as possible. Strong winds caused significant damage on our system and we won’t be able to restore all power today,” the district said Wednesday. “Rest assured, our crews will be working diligently throughout the night to continue to restore power as quickly as possible. Please take care and do what you need to do to stay safe and warm.”
Metro Fire, which serves Citrus Heights, said they had responded to 384 non-medical calls in a 24-hour period, according to an announcement on social media Wednesday.
“Safety is our priority; continue to follow our directions at existing and future incidents scenes and be patient with our partner agencies as we recover from yesterday,” the statement read.
*This article was originally published in The Sentinel’s Jan. 28th Midweek Edition. Sign up for The Sentinel’s free e-Edition and you’ll get two emails a week with all local news and zero spam. Click here to sign up.
