FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) — The House of JuJu is getting closer to reopening after a main water line in their three-story building burst causing major flood damage. 

Owner Julie Glen, also known as “JuJu” described the moment she first saw what had happened.

“When we walked in I called it a restaurant apocalypse,” said Glen. “For us at that moment everything we had, everything like you said that we put into this was destroyed.”

On June 13 the water line above the cook station broke causing two inches of flooding destroying flooring, equipment, and almost everything else inside.

“Thankfully we had an employee here, who was able to call us, my son the co-owner, was able to come and shut it all down but it really destroyed our kitchen and some of the walls in the restaurant so it’s been a challenge, “said Glen.

One of those challenges for Glen was figuring out how her employees were going to continue to be paid without having to go and find another job. 

Although she had never been in this situation before, insurance coverage helped.

“You don’t know what to do until you experience something like this so you go through the process so with their guidance we were able to make sure our employees were paid,” said Glen.

Dylan Johnson is the Back House Manager, he says at first he was worried.

“It was a struggle because we were not really sure about the payment side of it, like how are we gonna make a living,” said Johnson,

But that worry quickly turned into relief after he and the other employees found out they would continue to be paid. 

Not only did they get recovered wages they also were compensated for their tips. 

For the last couple of months, everyone has been working together to get the restaurant reopened. 

“Today we are kind of getting everything around we are close we are just waiting for a lot of the equipment but we are kind of putting everything back in order,” said Johnson. 

As repairs continue, they hope to have the restaurant reopened in a couple of weeks.

“We just can’t wait to serve all of you guys, you guys really mean a lot to us.”