Winds rip upper roof off Hazen cafè
By Daniel Arens
Vicious winds descended on Mercer County accompanying a large storm Sunday night, leaving swaths of damage to trees and houses.
Among the losses sustained from the storm was the roof of Sue’s Café, Hazen, which blew off from a particularly strong blast of wind, blowing east off the building across The Signature Page Insurance building and Power Plant Gym to land in the alley east of the gym.
“The new roof is all gone,” Sue Lee, owner of Sue’s Café, said. The newer top roof was curved towards the east, while an older flat roof remains over the building.
The café has experienced leakage in the back rooms and was still out of power by mid-day Tuesday. In addition to the top roof, the air conditioner and fan located on top of the café also blew off.
“Nobody got hurt, that’s the good thing,” Lee said.
Power Plant Gym suffered severe damage from a hole punctured in its roof by the blowing roof of Sue’s Café. Warren Wiedrich, owner of the gym, said the blowing roof went right through the steel of the ceiling.
“Then it poured in here like a waterfall for hours,” Warren Wiedrich said. Electrical and air conditioning was also lost. The gym will have to be almost entirely rebuilt, although Warren’s wife, Justine, said that the building is insured.
“We are covered, thank God for that,” she said.
Justine, who operates Natural Impressions Photography, a studio connected to the gym owned by her husband, sustained less damage. Water is running down the ceiling and there is some leakage through the walls that separate her business from the gym, but the damage is minimal enough that Natural Impressions remains open.
