Two months have passed since the flood waters forced the evacuation of thousands of homes and businesses and some are still facing weeks of remediation and recovery.
The basement of Wurst Restaurant & Beer Hall smells like oranges because the restoration company is spraying an anti-mould product on all the remaining wood studs.
“The last thing we want to start to do is put walls up and find out a year down the road that there's complete contamination in them and we have to do it all over again, so we're taking the steps to doing it right and hopefully only once,” said General Manager, Chris Rosamond.
Rosamond says kitchen equipment has been ordered and contractors are on stand by but there's no chance they will be open in time for Oktoberfest.
“We are dry. We are mould-free. It’s just a matter of getting clearance for the air quality. Right now, once that is done and approved then we can go on and start construction,” said Rosamond.
Wurst and other businesses in the Mission area were hit hard by June's flood two months ago and many are still closed.
Allan Kent spends his days covered in dry wall dust and says he thinks it will be two or even three more years before the rebuilding is complete.
“I didn’t realize how bad it was until you actually get out there and see it yourself like first-hand and you know how busy you’re going to be for the next couple of years,” said Kent. “Half of them haven't even started rebuilding, so they're still gutting.”
The Tech Shop was closed for a month even though it wasn't flooded and staff say they aren’t seeing the same amount of foot traffic as before.
“Because businesses between 23rd and 24th are still closed, and will be for a while, people who wander down from 17th Ave hit that area and say oh, they're closed, and say oh this is our flood zone and don't continue further down unfortunately,” said Lauren Milburn.
The general manager of Wurst is hoping to be back in business by mid-November and says they are planning a week-long event to make up for cancelling Oktoberfest.
(With files from Kevin Fleming)