Ben Lomond restaurant remains open for local residents and evacuees

BEN LOMOND, Calif. (KION)

The owners of Casa Nostra restaurant in Ben Lomond are helping people impacted by the mass power outages fire evacuations in local areas including Boulder Creek.

Casa Nostra is helping by simply staying open to let people purchase warm meals and offering things like bread, water and power sources for people in need as some face evacuations.

“They’re going through stress, so you now, we’re here to take a little bit of stress off," says Co-owner Raffaele Cristallo.

The restaurant itself was affected by a power outage but managed to keep things running with emergency generators.

However, the restaurant owners say they did not expect the extent of the damages done to their businesses by the powerful winds and falling trees.

“Fifteen different holes in our roof and our canopies, we just made this, we paid a lot of money for this and now it’s all ruined," says Co-owner, Mario Ibarra.

Ibarra says they are now looking at thousands of dollars in damages, but adds that will not stop them from standing by to lend a hand to community members in need of a temporary safe spot while they figure out their next steps.

“It’s a lot of scary things happening, we are just like a family and this is something that we really want, to everybody feel that way," says Ibarra.