Tens of thousands of Garden Grove residents have returned home nearly a week after an overheating chemical tank triggered mass evacuations, but many are now grappling with the economic consequences.
Some have to figure out how to make up for the unexpected expenses on hotels and food. Others, including countless small business owners in the Orange County city, are feeling the financial burden after their shops were forced to close for several days.
The good news is that there’s a reduced threat of an explosion or a chemical leak as the 34,000-gallon tank containing methyl methacrylate (MMA) was cooling itself at the GKN Aerospace facility as of Wednesday.
The new evacuation zone was limited to a 300-foot radius around the tank. And no homes were included in the perimeter.
Officials with the Orange County Fire Authority said the next step is to mitigate and eliminate the remaining threat against property and the environment.
“We will work with Orange County Health, and the EPA will work with the company on the removal of the waste,” Deputy Incident Commander Mike Yeun told NBC Los Angeles Wednesday.
But the bad news is that small businesses, including Harry’s Cafe in Stanton, are faced with the financial losses.
“We had things stocked up for the Memorial Day weekend rush,” Evodio Pantaleon at the diner said in Spanish. “Tomatoes, lettuce for burgers, chicken, steak, everything had to be thrown away.”
Pantaleon estimated the business lost somewhere between $35,000 and $40,000 during the emergency.
For other shops nearby, situations were similar. Brenda Tan, who owns Best Donuts, said she thinks she’s lost at least $10,000. Ricardo Barrera, owner of Señor Bagels, estimated he lost about the same amount during the shutdown.
For families who were forced out of their homes, the costs also kept adding up. James Abilez said he spent between $220 and $320 on hotel rooms.
“Minimum $1,000. I can only imagine how much more in the smaller expenses I had to do,” he said.
And because tens of thousands of people were under evacuation orders at the same time, Abilez explained he had to book the hotels in a different county.
“We were in Ontario, Corona, so we were traveling about 30 miles away just to get a hotel for that one night if we’re lucky,” Abilez said, adding he was also looking for work during the time. “Then there’s gas money since you’re coming from farther away. 30 miles there, 30 miles back.”
NBCLA has repeatedly attempted to have an interview with GKN Aerospace. Instead of agreeing to a sit-down, the company apologized in a statement.
“On behalf of the team at GKN Aerospace, I want to say how sorry we are for the uncertainty and disruption this situation has caused,” said GKN Senior Vice President Steve Carlin, who oversees the Garden Grove site’s programs. “I recognize how challenging this has been, particularly over the Memorial Day holiday. We are committed to understanding what occurred and identifying ways we can support those affected.”