Glamour Girl, on First Street, is one of the local businesses affected by the muddy waters. The water seeped into the store and created a lake on the floor. Fortunately, it didn’t reach most of the merchandise, but the owners had to close Glamour Girl while they cleaned. Not only that, a portion of their floor needed to be replaced where three carpets had been ruined.
During the June 21st flood the owner, Beny Guzman, and her daughter were at the store when water began to seep under the wall from the business next door, the front door and window, and from the back storeroom.
“It was out of control,” said Guzman.
They acted quickly to move all their merchandise to a higher level, onto the display tables. Putting plastic at the bottom of the door to stop the mud did not help. It still seeped underneath and even under the window. The owner’s son and husband removed the mud with a shovel and also installed the new flooring.
Their insurance company, Farmers Insurance, does not have coverage for floods. The landlord, Fred Rodarte, does not intend to compensate his tenants for the damage but will be available to comment following a business trip.
Glamour Girl suffered an economic impact since about onethird of all the floors were removed to prevent mold and for customer safety. But because the store was closed for two weeks the owners have agreed to give their layaway customers one extra month on their layaways, and will show their appreciation to loyal customers who knew their situation with a Flood Sale on the weekend of July 19th and 20th.