The storm's devastation has brought some small businesses to their knees, including a San Diego floral shop — Native Poppy — whose warehouse was wiped out by flood waters in the Grantville neighborhood.
The business was just recovering from a car crash that destroyed one of their storefronts in South Park in 2022.
Native Poppy is just one of the many businesses still cleaning up in that area Thursday afternoon.
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Natalie Gill had just filled her floral shop's warehouse with Valentine's Day gifts and chocolates. She was preparing for Native Poppy's second busiest day of the year after Mother's Day when the floods hit the area, decimating her unit located in a shopping center along Mission Gorge Road.
“All the water was just rushing by. All of our gifts and products were just rushing out into the road,” Gill said.
She described the business hub as an aquarium when she arrived early Monday afternoon to check on things. She showed NBC 7 the water line that was several feet high inside the offices.
Gill is still processing just how much they lost. The entire refrigerator that kept all of the perishable flowers toppled over and fell into the dirty storm water as it poured in. Even the custom delivery vans were totaled. Water knocked down the steel garage door.
“We opened a van to see how wet it was inside, and the light turned on, and it made the van catch on fire,” Gill said.
The warehouse, one of three brick and mortar locations, produces 70% of their orders. Gill started the business in 2014.
“We really came into this just being like, 'We want to sell flowers.' We didn’t have a website when we opened. We used to do deliveries by bike,” Gill recalled.
Meg Blancato was her first hire and now business partner and best friend. They focus on artistry, sustainability and supporting local farms. They compost all of their waste and avoid using plastic when possible to set them apart from other shops.
“We spend months training our floral designers to be artists,” Blancato said.
Unfortunately, they've been through this kind of devastation before. In 2022, a car slammed through their South Park location. A woman carjacked a DoorDash driver and ended up crashing into the building. Police arrested the woman. And luckily, no was hurt inside the business.
In fact, both times, the accidents have happened on a Monday — when they're closed.
“This time around, we do not have flood insurance. We do not have insurance that’s going to cover the damage that’s here, which is why this feels so defeating,” Blancato said.
On the bright side, they still plan on fulfilling Valentine's Day orders with the flowers they expect delivered to the other two storefronts in the coming days.
Once again, they are picking up the petals and moving forward.
“It’s actually one of our core values. Adapt, adapt, adapt. So we are going to adapt,” Blancato said.
They are asking the public for any help possible and that includes thinking of them when you make your Valentine’s Day flower purchases. They are accepting pre-orders.
