New storm giving new anxiety to snake-bit restaurant owner in Santa Cruz Mountains
REDWOOD ESTATES, Santa Clara County -- People living in the Santa Cruz Mountains are bracing for the potential impacts of yet another storm taking aim at the region late Monday into Tuesday.
"I've had to throw away a week's worth of meat three times," said Ralph Ditullio, owner of Nonno's Restaurant in Redwood Estates. He says repeated and prolonged power outages have proved incredibly disruptive to his business during the first three months of the year.
"The last three Mondays have been gorgeous when we're closed. And then I come to work on Tuesday and I have power for a couple of hours and then it shuts down with the new storm coming in," said Ditullio. "So, if you're up there listening [God], could you please reschedule the storms?"
KPIX 5 First Alert Weather: Current Conditions, Forecasts, Alerts For Your Area
It didn't appear that Ditullio was getting much help from divine intervention. His restaurant was sun-kissed and shuttered and entirely empty as it is most Mondays. And raising his anxiety level, there was another ill-timed storm in Tuesday's forecast.
He says each time the power goes out, it's a double loss; in both food and supplies as well as customers and their business.
Ditullio says he's just trying to hang on, hoping to recover in the dry summer months.
"If we can make it to May, we should make it," he said. "Yes, we have a good community. They have supported me during this. We've been here 27 years and we're not going anywhere if we can help it."
