Tache Ludewig, co-owner of Ludewig Ranch, overlooks the piles of dirt he's using to create a berm around his property to stave off future sewage-contaminated floodwater.
The Ludewig family's Halloween horror is turning into a nightmare before Christmas, too.
Seasonal uses of the Ludewig Ranch, formerly San Martin Country Park in San Martin, include a pumpkin patch and Christmas tree farm. The Ludewig family lost out on most of his Halloween profits when Oct. 13's record rains overwhelmed the city's sewage system. Almost seven inches of rain fell, flooding downtown, submerging vehicles and causing the evacuation of 30 apartment renters on Bisceglia Avenue. And, about 40,000 gallons of raw sewage, enough to fill a large swimming pool, flushed over Ludewig's front lawn and an adjacent 10-acre plot, sloshing around thousands of pumpkins that had recently been put there for the annual pumpkin patch. The Ludewigs invested $10,000 in the pumpkins.
Without the profits from the pumpkin patch, the Ludewigs are hard-pressed to find the capital to get their Christmas tree farm off the ground.
The city has admitted guilt and pledged to pay the family back for damages.
Tache Ludewig, a co-owner of the ranch, which is located at 13865 Monterey Road, lamented what he considered to be a drawn-out process. The family sends receipts to the Association of Bay Area Government, which administers the city's insurance plan.
"I have to send every receipt to ABAG. To get everything done here I give them receipts," he said. "The lawn (check) came in, it came out great, all that stuff came in."
Meanwhile, Ludewig said his family is missing crucial deadlines to get their annual Christmas tree farm running.
"I was supposed to be in Oregon the first week of November to order my trees. I usually fly up there. But I can't afford that right now. There's no reason to go up there. They want a large deposit ... I'm going to end up not getting the trees I wanted to get," Ludewig said. The perfect situation would be, today I would get a check."
Ludewig has gotten two checks so far. Ludewig Ranch has received $47,000 for cleanup costs, replacement materials, product loss, business advertisement loss and inspection fees, according to Kevin Riper, the city's risk manager. Ludewig Family Trust received another $26,000 for lawn restoration and other damage repair, Riper said.
Still, Tache Ludewig said there's "no capital, there's no profit. I'm smashing my pumpkins. I'm smashing my profit. I just need to hear something. One day feels like a week to me. I got people, I got ads. I should be advertising more than I normally do. I don't want to have this roll over into my Christmas season."
Riper said because the claim is still open, there wasn't a lot he could say about it.
Natalie Everett
Natalie Everett Natalie Everett is the education and city reporter for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106, ext. 201, or neverett@morganhilltimes.com.
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