Fire Rescue: Winter Park Tijuana Flats roof collapses on victim

(Winter Park Fire Rescue / Facebook)

Business is back open at the Winter Park Corners shopping plaza, but business owners say it’s far from business as usual. 

They’re nervous to work here now after the ceiling collapsed outside Tijuana Flats Monday night.

Photos show the chaos and destruction when a ceiling collapsed just outside Tijuana Flats in Winter Park Monday, trapping a woman under the debris. 

“It scared me,” said Rice and Beans co-owner Kenia Gonzalez.

Gonzalez owns Rice and Beans a few doors down and rushed over after getting a frantic call from her employee Monday. 

“She panicked because the employee from Tijuana Flats came in through our back door. She was jumping into our restaurant screaming, 'There is a customer trapped! There is a customer trapped! Call 911.'”

Fire officials say that woman was rescued and taken to the hospital with non-serious injuries. 

As for the building, crews were out Tuesday morning securing it and cleaning debris. 

Part of the ceiling is now gone. 

Fire officials say the building was inspected and deemed safe.

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Construction has been on and off at the shopping center for years, and those who were in it are not feeling so confident. 

“I said to her, 'just pull the patio out. Pull all the chairs out. I don’t want any of my customers to suffer any injury,'” Gonzalez said.

“Yes, I’m a little bit nervous that everybody being on the roof is going to cause it to collapse again,” said Jaime Madsen, who also works in the plaza.

The property manager, Weingarten Realty, released this statement to Fox 35:

"Weingarten Realty can confirm there was an incident at Winter Park Corners on Monday evening. The ceiling under canopy on the exterior of the building fell which resulted in an injury. The initial investigation from the structural engineer found this was a finish material failure and not a structural failure. The remainder of the under canopy is being evaluated to ensure the safety for all at the shopping center."

But, some say they won’t feel safe until construction is done.

“I guess just wear a hard hat when I go into work. I don’t know.”

Fire officials estimate about $4,000 worth of damage, but none to the inside of the building or businesses.