As heavy rain doused Malibu Thursday night, thick mud and debris tumbled into the eatery's parking lot. The entrance to the restaurant was caked in thick layers of mud, and hazard tape was seen roping off the beams of the storefront.
All this, not long after the iconic eatery escaped the Palisades Fire with minimal damage.
"I mean, triple whammy if you think about it, because you had the Franklin Fire in December, Palisades Fire in January, and then now this," said Duke's General Manager Jimmy Chavez. "We flooded back in 2011, which was pretty substantial, but this is much worse."
Crews spent much of Saturday working to clear the mud, and they got pretty far. Eyewitness News also learned Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation inmate crews are also assisting in the cleanup efforts.
Inmate crews help clean up mud at Duke's restaurant in Malibu
"The good news is the last couple of days we've been able to get a lot of that water out of there ... we're working to do that again today," said Los Angeles County Fire Capt. Dan Koch. "I think after today, it'll be a good start for them."
"We're just trying to do whatever we can to just get them back on their feet, you know, Duke's being such an important part of Malibu," Koch added.
Chavez said they hope to come back stronger than ever.
"We want to be open. We want to be a place that they can continue to gather, we want to continue to serve our community," he said. "It's going to take some time, so we really appreciate all the love we've gotten on social media, and everybody reaching out, and we'll get open as soon as we can."