Montebello plant shutting down, laying off workers after tornado damage

MONTEBELLO, Calif. (KABC) -- Weeks after a rare tornado ripped through a Montebello industrial park, businesses are still trying to rebuild from the damage - and one major employer is closing down its facility permanently.

Utilimaster is closing its Montebello site and laying off about 60 employees, according to a letter the Michigan-based company sent to the city.

The tornado hit the area on March 23. The damage to area businesses was extensive - 11 buildings were red-tagged, impacting some 17 businesses.

That means dozens of employees are out of work.

Tornado rips the roofs off buildings in Montebello


Alex Gillman, with the city of Montebello says "Right now we're working with these employers and directly with their employees to get them the unemployment resources that the state does offer that we can assist them with."

A few days after the tornado, the city of Montebello and Los Angeles County set up a tornado recovery center to help employees and business owners get the help they need.

Among them was Luzette Sanchez. Her family's ice-cream truck business was severely damaged by the tornado.

"It is a little bit frustrating," Sanchez says. "Since we are a small family business, we go day-by-day with our sales. We do hope we get helped out with something at least."

Montebello continues to tap into resources from the county, state and federal governments to help with the recovery.

"If you go visit city of Montebello's website we have a tornado recovery page there," Gillman says. "And we're hosting a job fair on May 3 and we're going to tell these employers please let their employees know to come to that job fair so they can the resources they need so we can help them further."