LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Multiple businesses across the Las Vegas Valley were left without power after Tuesday’s wind storms.
Chapala’s Mexican Restaurant has been a part of the East Las Vegas community since the 1970s – a staple for families across three generations.
“Some of these kids, we hold them sometimes while their parents are eating, and now they’re coming here with their parents and now those kids are drinking margaritas,” said owner Jose Flores.
Tuesday’s windstorm changed everything for Flores. He explained what started as a typical windy afternoon quickly turned into something much worse – a moment he would not forget.
“It got real windy, man, and then they just started snapping, you know? And it just looked like a war zone, man.” he explained.
With the power gone now through the overnight hours, the restaurant has lost all its fresh food and Flores explained, the cost of replacing everything is overwhelming.
“You know the bills don’t stop coming, in fact, they get worse when things like this happen,” he said. “You know, the trash still comes, the light, you know, the rent.”
And without hot water, cleaning up has become a challenge. Flores said me he’s worried for the future of his restaurant.
“There’s a lot of people that live out of this place, you know, they all have houses, payments and everything.” he shared.
Some customers showed up Wednesday, unaware of the closure. Flores said he hopes they’ll come back once the lights are back on and the kitchen is up and running again.
“It hurts, it’s going to be real bad, actually,” he said. “When it’s all penciled out and these guys get everything going, we’ll figure out how bad it was, you know? But yeah, there’s nothing we can do about that.”
Flores said once power returns, he will be happy to welcome customers back, but until then he said every day he’s closed is more money that’s lost.
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