Ryan Soderlin/DN
SHAWN HERZ06 of Lincoln, an employee of FMA Realty, blows snow from the sidewalk of 14th and M streets
Sunday morning. More than a foot of snow blanketed Lincoln Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Snow business
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Blizzard forces store runs, closures
By Ieva Augstums
Staff Reporter
Businesses throughout the city
were faced with the decision to stay
closed or to open Sunday after a bliz
zard stormed the city Saturday night
and early Sunday morning.
£fec€ric'al outages, downed tele
phone lines and shortages of employ
ees caused many businesses to stay
closed. Several, however, felt an
obligation to serve the community
and decided to remain open.
Wayne Goos, store manager of
Target at 333 N. 48th St., said that his
store stayed open mainly because it
was an all-purpose store that served
the city of Lincoln.
“People have come in mainly for
camping supplies, fuel, cooking
stoves, blankets, candles, batteries
and snow shovels,” Goos said.
Super Saver, 233 N. 48th St., is
one of Lincoln’s 24-hour grocery
stores. Shawn Daily, die office man
ager, said most customers bought
small orders Sunday.
“People who are coming in are
buying a lot of bread and milk,” Daily
said. “We have also sold batteries for
flashlights and radios left and right.”
Russ’ Market, another 24-hour
grocery store chain, closed three of
its six stores because of the weather.
Willy Piitz, store manager at Wal
Mart, 4700 N. 27th St., said people
started lining up outside,the afore
since 7 a.m.
“Business has been pretty brisk
since we opened this morning,” Piitz
said. “We had people buying chain
saws, batteries, flashlights, candles
like crazy. Snow shovels seem to be
our hottest item at the moment.”
Winterizing households and cars
is the main focus for many people,
said Piitz.
Hardware stores noticed an
increase in sales of household repair
items, as well as generators, space
heaters and oil lamps. An employee at
Menards, 3500 N. 27th St., said the
customer numbers remained low, but
the store would be ready once people
assess the damages done to their
homes and businesses .
Many retail stores had very few
customers because of the weather;
however, many restaurants were over- i
whelmed with customers.
— The Garden Cafe, 70th and A j
streets, remained open with an aver
age wait of 15 minutes. Many pizza
carryout and delivery restaurants
were kept busy filling orders across
the city. Papa John’s, l$0}j&St, bad j
an average 45-minute waiffor carry
out. Papa John’s was not able to make
home deliveries because of the haz
ardous road conditions.
While some restaurants decided
to open, others like Valentino’s, 13th
and Q streets, and Lazio’s Brewery
and Grill, 701 P St., decided to stay
closed because they were under
staffed and did not want to jeopardize
the health and safety of their employ
ees.
Brian Niemeyer, assistant manag
er of Valentino’s downtown, said the
decision to stay closed was relayed
down to them from their home office.
“It was decided that it was not safe for
employees to travel to work,”
Niemeyer said.
elated tire
in Omaha
OMAHA (AP) - When the record
snowstorm hit Sunday morning and the
power went out, they lit a candle.
But it was left unattended and set
the house on fire, killing 48-year-old
Robbie Coleman. Firefighters rushing
to the scene were hampered by heavy
snow and downed tree limbs that
blocked roads.
Coleman apparently was trapped in
her bedroom by the blaze, which start
ed shortly after 4 a.m. Sunday, said
Craig Schneider, a fire department
spokesman.
Two other people in the house -
Ernest Coleman, whose age was
unavailable, and Anthony Coleman,
14, - managed to escape unharmed,
Schneider said.
The exact cause of Robbie
Coleman’s death will not be clear until
_an autopsy is performed, Schneider
said.
It took 35 minutes for firefighters
to get to the scene and begin battling
the fire, he said.
“There were so many roads
blocked,” Schneider said. “It’s unfortu
nate that these things happen, but
there’s nothing that we can do about it.”
The fire department responded to
as many as six major storm-related
fires Sunday, but no one else was
injured, Schneider said.
With many of Omaha’s power lines
still down, the string of fires may not be
over, he said. Fire officials had
received many calls about live electric
ity cables that had fallen to the ground
and sparked.
Even felled power lines that look
harmless should be avoided, Schneider
said.
“Power can travel through the lines,
through wet surfaces, Over tree lines
and it can even at very high voltages, it
can jump from the cable,” Schneider
said. “Electricity is very volatile.”
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