Businesses begin recovery efforts following North Texas winter storm
NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) — Now that the region has made it out of the ice storm, North Texans are making their way back out to survey the damage and to also enjoy the warmer weather.
"I had very little damage but there were some boats that were destroyed," said boat owner Donald Jones.
Jones docks his two boats at the Lynn Creek Marina at Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie. His boats were under a roof that collapsed in the storm.
According to Suntex Marinas, which manages the marina, the roof collapsed under the weight of ice overnight on Wednesday.
"It's very frustrating because we don't get access to our boats," Jones said.
Suntex Marinas said no one was injured in the collapse and that they notified all of the boat owners. They are also relocating boats on the impacted dock to another location.
Still, boat owners are frustrated.
"They moved our boats to an alternate location that doesn't have power, doesn't have water," Jones said. "I have a big boat—40-foot boat—batteries need to charge, refrigerator, and without power, they're just going to die."
It's a different story for restaurants that had to shut down during the storm—the warm weather brought a welcome return to business.
"Two days shut down, but really it was for the safety of our employees more than anything," said Jason Alan Smith, the owner of FireHouse Gastro Park.
The Grand Prairie restaurant shut its doors on Tuesday and Wednesday, but was packed Saturday with people just happy to get out of the house.
"It's definitely not as bad as two years ago when the whole grid came down and everything, but we were a little stir crazy...three days I stayed in," said Tiffany Yancy.
Though, Smith said being closed for two days did hurt their bottom line.
"I feel bad for our team that had to go home and not get their wage or their gratuity," he said.
But they've learned from past storms, and stocked up on salt, wrapped pipes and kept the heat on to prevent damage so they could get back to business sooner this time.
"February's off to a little bit of a rocky start but we hope to recover," Smith said.
