Peru restaurant B-K West rebuilding after tornado

PERU B-K West is more than just a drive-in restaurant to its owner, J.D. Hann. Its a piece of his childhood, a historic Peru landmark, and its his baby.

I grew up with this place, the 57-year-old Peru native said. We used to walk the tracks on Saturday and come here and drink root-beer floats back when they were a quarter. Its always been a part of me.

Thats why it hurt so bad when a EF-1 twister tore through the eatery known for its hot dogs, hamburgers and floats back in July.

The powerful storm turned the steel drive-in canopy into a twisted piece of rubble and smashed an employees truck into a fence.

The building that housed the kitchen also sustained damage. Thats where the six girls working at the time hid during the tornados fury.

The girls went into the bathroom, Hann said. They were diving for the floor. It was horrifying. But nobody got hurt, and thats the main thing.

After the storm, clean-up workers found parts of the canopy two miles away, laying on the municipal golf course.

The destruction was devastating to Hann, whos owned the 64-year-old restaurant for the last 12 years.

And now that its being rebuilt, the part of Hann that was crushed when his restaurant crumbled is being restored.

Construction on the new canopy started earlier this month, and the restaurant thats normally open from March to October should be serving up its iconic drive-in food by the end of the month, Hann said.

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Peru restaurant B-K West rebuilding after tornado