Caught Beside the Mudslide

In case you have missed our social media posts, a mudslide fell onto part of the Town and Country shopping center where Booknotes is located.  The major impact occurred sometime around 1:00 am Thursday, February 21, although some rocks had fallen and were in the process of being cleared earlier in the night.  It crashed into the back of the section where CosmoProf is located.  Mud seeped into and through the store, oozing out of their doors.  The impact knocked down part of the access way to the upstairs apartments, making access to them almost impossible.  Mud surged into the heat pumps and duct work of some units.  The electricity was cut off to many units to make sure there were no secondary problems.  The mud blocked the drainage ditch behind the center, forcing the need for pumps and hoses to be brought in to help drain the ditch.  Unfortunately, the C + R Office Supply storeroom was the best location for these hoses.  Their doors have had to be kept open as the hoses sucked the excess water from behind the center, splashing it into the parking lot.  We were allowed to turn the electricity back on around 1:30 pm that Thursday.  We had been closed all of that day.  We are open, but with some distractions.  In case something else happens, we had rearranged some of our products to offer some protection.  Some of the books and furniture have also be moved to aid in this.  The parking lot was covered with muddy water from both CosmoProf and the storeroom for the time being as the clean up continues.  The parking is basically back to normal, but it will be tougher to get to it at times with the support vehicles for the clean up crews taking up spots.   We would like to thank all of our customers and friends for your support in this troubled time.

Since I first wrote this, the store is mostly back to normal.  A few small details remain to be done, but the store seems to be alright.  The carpeting still needs to be cleaned a little better, as there has been a lot of dried mud tracked in.  Our heat pump is on the roof and wasn't damaged during slide.  The odds of another slide have decreased, but it still is possible.  There had been minor events over the years, but nothing of this magnitude.  The drainage ditch is mostly clear.  Hopefully, the frogs weren't too severely hurt by this, although many might have been forcibly relocated with all the mud.  They had already started to wake up in the days leading up to the slide, but who knows how the slide and the return to cooler temperatures will affect them.  Water from the ditch didn't enter the store this time around, although it had come close in the past.  I could still use your help in getting the store in better shape.  So, think of Booknotes in my troubled times.