Dozens of local and family-owned businesses along Military Trail in Greenacres, Florida, are facing financial struggles and uncertainty in the wake of the deadly Learjet 60 crash that has forced road closures and restricted public access since Nov. 1.

Just before 1 p.m. Nov. 1, the private business jet flew into stormy weather and encountered turbulence in the air above Palm Beach County shortly before it plummeted out of the sky onto South Military Trail near 10th Avenue North, smashing a large crater into the some of the lanes. Co-pilot Nathalia Filgueiras, 20, was killed, along with pilot Jeffrey Gregory, 55, and all seven passengers aboard. It was the deadliest aviation crash in the county in more than 80 years.

While federal and local authorities finished their on-scene investigations earlier this week, Military Trail between 10th Avenue North and Cresthaven Boulevard remains closed, and the public has been asked to avoid the area. Some businesses in the affected corridor are open or expect to soon, while other owners told the South Florida Sun Sentinel they don’t have a timeline for when things may return to normal.

Whether businesses have reopened or not, the financial strain is being felt by all, several owners said.

Juan Calle, owner of the nightclub Bendito Bar and Lounge in a shopping plaza at 3040 S. Military Trail, estimated his business has lost between $50,000 to $75,000 since the crash. As of Wednesday, Calle said he has not been able to reopen; his last night open was Halloween.

“For us, it’s pretty bad because Sunday is a very busy night, Fridays and Saturdays … We are waiting pretty much the whole week to work those nights, and then when you can’t open, it hurts,” he told the Sun Sentinel.

The jet crashed “right in front of my door, pretty much,” Calle said. He went by his business Wednesday afternoon and was told by a law enforcement officer it’s unclear when the road will reopen. As a result, Calle said customers can’t access the shopping plaza where his business is. He doesn’t know what to tell his bartenders, waiters, security staff or DJs about when they might return to work.

“If they tell me that I cannot open for the next two months, at least I know what can I do. I know how to promote my business … But they don’t have any clue when we can open, so for me it’s very hard,” he said.

County commissioners on Tuesday approved a $250,000 grant program to help businesses along Military Trail from Broadway Street on the south to Kelly Drive and Sussex Avenue on the north. That area is expected to be restricted for “an extended period,” according to material included in the county commission’s agenda for the meeting. More than 80 businesses are located within the affected segment, public records obtained by the Sun Sentinel show.

Eligible businesses and nonprofits can received a one-time grant capped at $5,000 through the new program, called the Military Trail Business Interruption Grant Program, the county said in a news release.

The grants will be administered through the Department of Housing and Economic Development to cover expenses including rent, payroll, utilities and inventory. Grants will be awarded “on a first-come, first-served basis until funds are exhausted or all eligible applicants are served.” Applications will open Thursday on the Department of Housing and Economic Development website. United Way of Palm Beach County has also set up a disaster relief fund; donations will go to residents affected by both the crash and widespread flooding that swept through the county early last week.

Hector Andrade, owner of Born2fade barber shop in the Silver Oaks Plaza at 3095 S. Military Trail, told the Sun Sentinel he plans to apply for the county’s grant program.

Andrade said the plaza was empty on Wednesday afternoon as he was there cleaning up his shop. He expects to reopen on Thursday to customers, some of who live in the Green Acres Mobile Home community that was under a mandatory evacuation after the crash. After being completely closed for more than a week, he estimated a loss of about $15,000 — a disruption that comes at an already difficult time financially for businesses and customers, he said.

He is concerned customers won’t return out of confusion about access in the area or losing customers altogether because “we didn’t have a specific answer for when we were going to be open,” he said.

“They seem like they’re working hard, trying to pave the road and all that. They seem like they’re moving. But I don’t know how long it will take,” Andrade said.

Mohammad Khan, owner of Apnar Pharmacy also in the Silver Oaks Plaza, was beginning to clean and reorganize his small community pharmacy Wednesday afternoon, “but there is no business,” he said. He, too, is worried about losing customers to larger chains. His business lost power for days after the crash, which he said soiled refrigerated items such as vaccines and insulin.

“Straight 10 days, there is no business,” he said.

Frank Itayem’s business, Hair Depot Beauty Supply at 2859 S. Military Trail, is near Kelly Drive, several blocks north of the crash site. Even though the on-scene investigation has ended and Itayem has reopened, he said his shop is still empty due to a combination of police activity and road blocks. He said he has lost “100% of the income for 11 days so far, and it’s still going.”

“They can’t drive their cars in because of the barricades, then there is no business,” he said. “But it’s not just me … everybody is suffering.”

Some who live in the residential areas that border the crash site are similarly strained.

Fatima Aviles, who lives in the mobile home community, told the Sun Sentinel on Monday that the previous week was fraught with confusion about when she and her neighbors could return to their homes and if financial assistance is available for out-of-pocket expenses that have come with relocating.

Since being forced to evacuate after the crash, Aviles paid for a hotel and, without having a timeline for when she could return, recently renewed a booking for another week. She also had to rent a car to go to work and take her daughter to elementary school as she and her husband weren’t able to move their own vehicles from the mobile home park during the investigation.

“No one has mentioned who’s going to pay me back,” she said. “No one has said anything.”

Diyana Castellanos, her father and her sister were home the afternoon of the crash. Castellanos said she saw the jet fall out of the sky from a window in her bathroom. The power inside their home went out. When her father went outside to see what happened, Castellanos said, “there was fire everywhere.”

Debris landed on their roof, puncturing it so that rainwater was flowing into their living room. They put buckets in the room to catch the water. Another piece of debris shattered a hole in the window of her father’s car, she said.

The family was staying at an Airbnb. When they went to the neighborhood earlier this week, Castellanos said they all felt afraid being back after witnessing the aftermath of the crash.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators on Monday finished excavating the crater on Military Trail, where they recovered the aircraft’s cockpit voice recorder and other key pieces for the investigation. Parts of the jet that control up and down movement were found up to 3.8 miles away from the crash site, indicating that they broke off the jet while in mid-air.

Typically, the NTSB will release a preliminary report within a month of the crash and a final report with probable cause and any safety recommendations within one to two years.

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