WEBSTER CITY, Iowa — Local businesses in Webster City are still reeling from a late November fire that destroyed an entire building.
The road that goes right through the heart of downtown Webster City has been closed for days, and businesses are seeing less customers as a result of the closure.
"The timing couldn't have been worse for this horrible thing to happen," said Kathy Birkestrand, the owner of Osweiler's.
With the street blocked off, there is no street parking, forcing businesses to open their back doors for customers.
"We haven't had that much people for the reason that either the sidewalk is closed or they have to go around, 'cause they can't find a parking spot, its affected a lot," said Brenda Puents, a waitress at La Perla Jarocha Restaurant.
The holiday season is a crucial time for small business sales.
"Having the streets closed, and the sidewalks closed has been a terrible blow to all of us in this block," Birkestrand said. "The directional signs aren't as good as we need to get people to the back of the store, and people from out of town see the street closing signs and think all of the businesses are closed too."
Some business owners say they are getting similar amounts of foot traffic as they would get if there was a blizzard.
"It's just nice because this is downtown, so it would be nice to see it open again," said Viviana Sosa, the owner of La Perla Jarocha Restaurant.
The city says their number one priority is to re-open the road, all while keeping everyone safe.
“What I want everybody to know is that we are working diligently to get this open for the businesses and the community," said Logan Welch, Webster City Council Mayor Pro-Temp.
Despite the setback, the community is remaining positive through it all.
"It's very crucial that we all stick together, especially when something like this happens, we all feel the impact," said Daniel Lee, co-owner of Gilbert Jewelers.
The city expects to get an engineering report on Tuesday night to re-evaluate the problem, hopefully open at least one road and add digital signage.
Overall, the city's main priority will be to re-open the roads and keep everyone safe.