San Francisco business owners clean up mess from storms, brace for more rain
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – Local business owners were cleaning well into Sunday evening after heavy rainstorms drenched the Bay Area over New Year's Weekend.
The scenes from Saturday's historic storm were dramatic. Video showed one bicyclist floating down 14th Street, while another tried to scoot through the flooded road.
Another person waded through thigh-high waters with their belongings on New Year's Eve.
Family-owned pizza and Italian restaurant Pink Onion was submerged in water. The storm wrecked virtually all of its equipment, and workers said while they reported the flooding to 311, no one from the city showed up to help.
"We rent the equipment to get out the water and to clean the grease because a lot of grease from the street moved into the restaurant, and then all the damage is so many," said line cook Feliciano Cinta. "We don't have an idea. And then we rent equipment, spend time working hard."
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Cinta said he came in to help the business, and other spots down the street by cleaning the storm drains himself and pumping standing water out of the restaurant.
"The worst damage was all the electric fridge, walk-in freezer, fridge for all the stuff, it's gone," said Cinta.
Parked cars outside the business are completely damaged by water.
Cinta also said so much trash has surfaced all over the street, including plenty of hypodermic needles.
Bruce Pettway works at a San Francisco tech company. He believes he'll be cleaning up well into February.
"As soon as we walked in we were like 'were we robbed? Or was this the weather? What's happening in here?' it's so surreal because you can see where the water line stops," said Pettway. "It was Jumanji. The complete floor looked like a forest floor. We have 300-pound machines turned off to the side."
The National Weather Service said Saturday's storm made for the second wettest day in the 170+ years of records at its site.
"I come from the East Coast where we're used to rain and flooding all the time. Basements get destroyed," said Pettway. "I've never been used to this much rain in this city, it's wild."
While tech companies have workers that can log in remotely, small businesses like Pink Onion don't have that option.
Cinta said after a holiday break, it was scheduled to open in the new year on Tuesday. That won't be the case anymore.
"I was worried because we take more days to fix it, it's going to take more days to open it," he said.
On Monday, crews from the city's Public Utilities Commission went to the hard-hit Mission District to identify and vacuum clogged catch basins and storm drains.
It said it added more strike teams with specialized equipment ahead of Wednesday's monstrous storm. SFPUC spokesperson Joseph Sweiss said the city's sewer system, or any urban area's infrastructure for that matter, was not designed to handle the intensity of the 100-year storm on New Year's Eve.
On Tuesday SFPUC said it will install temporary flood barriers at 17th and Folsom, an area that was pounded by the last round of rain. The agency also said it was working with the fire department, Public Works, and the Department of Emergency Management to address 311 calls.
It advised residents and businesses to call 311 if they need weather-related support, as the city prioritizes trouble spots.
Residents can also visit sf72.org to get wet weather resources. Sign up for AlertSF by texting your zip code to 888-777 for real-time emergency texts.
