One Shop Owner Reports $100K In Damages So Far At Liquor Store

Residents and business owners in Napa are just starting to assess the damage from this morning’s 6.0-magnitude quake, and one liquor store owner is reporting an estimated $100,000 in losses.

Stever Steve Rodrigues, 44, is the owner of 17-year-old Val’s Liquors at 1531 Third Street in Napa.

He says that after the 3:20 a.m. quake, the liquor was “flowing out the front door,” and it also flowed under a wall in the front of the store making it difficult to enter the business.

“You couldn’t walk in here,” Rodrigues said.

[Related: BAY AREA QUAKE: Click here for Patch’s Full Earthquake Coverage]

Immediately after the quake, Rodrigues went home to call friends for help, then came back to the store at 4:30 a.m. and filled two garbage cans full of glass. He and three friends are working to reopen the store, but he won’t be open for business tomorrow, he said.

Rodrigues lives in the north Linda Vista area of Napa, where he says his house and the houses of his neighbors were all badly damaged.

A 200-gallon reef fish tank collapsed and flooded his home, he said.

Despite all the damage, Rodrigues has a positive attitude about all the damage.

“What can you do but laugh, really?” he asked. “It’s an act of God.”

--Bay City News