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Two Weeks After Floods, Montecito's Coast Village Road Is (Slowly) Returning To Business

One tghe first day Montecito's Coast Village Road reopened to the public, the Honor bar was the only restaurant up and running, and they had to bring in water tanks and other spcial gear to make it happen.

The kitchen is busy at Montecito’s Honor Bar restaurant.

For the first time in two weeks, the stoves are fired up, the servers are filling orders, and most importantly, there are people here, eating lunch. Montecito’s main business district, Coast Village Road, reopened to the public at noon on Tuesday, two weeks to the day after the community was hit by massive flooding.

The Honor Bar was the only restaurant in the community ready to reopen when the evacuation order was lifted, and to do it they had to bring in water tanks, and porta-potties.

Across the street from the restaurant, the upscale women’s clothing store Allora for Laura also reopened as soon as the evacuation order was lifted.

TJ Briedenstein, who co-owns the store with her mother, says on the day of the flooding Coast Village Road was surreal, with cars floating down the street. She says she and others were there before the area was evacuated, and couldn’t believe what they were seeing. More than half of her store was covered with mud, but the had everything cleaned and ready to open at noon Tuesday,

The shop owner says she’s anxious for evacuation orders to be lifted for the rest of Montecito, because residents make up about half of her business. The other half of her business comes from hotel guests, and that could be tougher, because some of the hotels like the Biltmore could be closed for months.

While the reopening of Coast Village Road is a major step for Montecito, some say it could be some time still before things are back to normal. Robert Ludwick, with the Coast Village business association, says while the reopening was faster than he expected, it could take time for customers to return. On Tuesday, about 20 percent of the businesses were open.

Officials say it could be another week before many of the remaining Montecito area evacuees are able to return home, with work continuing on damaged roads and disrupted utilities.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
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