The Shell gas station located on Curbaril Avenue and Morro Road in Atascadero sustained significant damage from the latest storm.
On Thursday morning, clean-up crews found water dripping, ripped cables on the floor, and a torn canopy.
“I think it was pretty bad. The wind was pretty strong, and it’s not good because we get gas here every day,” said Memo Aguilar, a regular customer at the gas station.
It was a scene too tempting to pass by without snapping a picture, and that is exactly what Chuck Terhune did after driving by earlier in the morning.
“It blew my mind. I live down the road here and it stormed all night, but I was certainly surprised to see this,” Terhune said.
Robert Meyer was on a snack run and was not expecting the chaos.
“What we thought was like pretty chill throughout the night and then wake up to see this, it’s like woah,” Meyer said.
Crews from Promotion Plus Sign Company drove up from Los Angeles bright and early to assess the damage.
“Right now, we are just going to take everything down, so it’s much safer,” explained Alexis Montenegro, an employee of Promotion Plus Sign Company.
Before getting their hands dirty, crew members had to take care of any potential electric hazards.
“The red bar, it has light, so we have to turn it off, so we can work around it,” Montenegro said.
Workers got on top of the canopy, clipped wires, and drilled until the roof collapsed
Employees at Hitching Post Food Mart were simply astonished by Mother Nature.
“The good thing is that nobody got hurt, none of my colleagues got hurt, no customers were at the pumps at the time, so that’s pretty much like a blessing in disguise,” said Daniel Soto, employee at Hitching Post Food Mart.
Workers don't know when the gas station will be back up and running, but the Hitching Post Food Mart remains open.
