Small businesses near the Bristol Channel in Somerset said tiles had flown off their buildings and they had faced delivery issues during Storm Darragh .
Eleanor Sedgwick, 23, a front-of-house supervisor at Scarlett’s in Clevedon, said the cafe did not open on Saturday morning because it was “too big of a risk”.
She said: “The years that I’ve worked here, I’ve never had to close because of the weather, apart from when it snowed.”
Ms Sedgwick said four tiles fell off their roof but she felt the business had “got off quite lucky” compared to previous storms.
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She added: “We’re very fortunate because we are the first sort of wall (the storm) hit, so it’s scary but I’m glad that everyone’s happy and safe.”
Ben England, 47, manager of the Tiffin cafe on the same beachfront, said: “Last night we put all the (outside) chairs under wraps and tried to make it as secure as possible.
“Some of our deliveries didn’t make it through from Bristol, but I think we should be OK. I cancelled probably 80% of our staff that were coming in today, so it’s literally just the skeleton crew.”
Both Ms Sedgwick and Mr England said they were surprised at the number of customers venturing out.