LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- (WDRB) Louisville's Crowne Plaza Hotel, which was heavily damaged during Thursday's storm, is expected to be in full operation by Wednesday.
The hotel is open and hosting visitors in town for the big Lebowski Fest, even as crews work on every floor of the eight story tower.
It appears to be business as usual in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
"Our hotel is operating as normal. We've got meetings in. We've got our restaurant running," said Ashley Brauer of the Crowne Plaza.
But behind the scenes, a different story.
"We're down some hotel rooms. We've got 280 rooms right now that are operational."
That's less than half the usual number, as crews work to repair the damage done by Thursday's storm.
The most valuable resource - fans large and small being used to dry out the rooms flooded by the broken sprinkler system.
"As they go through their assessing each room. They've pulled out some mattresses. So, we're really going step by step in making sure we're repairing all the damage," said Brauer.
Guests say they have been able to work around the disruption.
"The meeting rooms were fine. They helped us shuttle people from the other hotels to here. And so, they were able to keep us going. Like I said, they were really helpful," said David Kern.
More than a dozen cars damaged by the falling roof facade are still in the parking lot.
Brittany Johnson is finally getting her windshield replaced. She was in her car on Thursday when debris came crashing through.
"Thank you God that I did not have my babies in the back of my car when it happened. It's just been traumatic. It really, really has."
She and her family hope to head back home to Illinois Sunday morning.
"I just want to get out of here. But, it's been a great stay here as far as them helping us and working with us an everything," said Johnson.
And the hotel aims to be in full operation by midweek.
"We're very, very lucky, very thankful that it wasn't much worse than it could have been," said Brauer.
Of course, the real test comes in about 10 days when the Street Rod Festival comes to town.
It's one of the biggest events of the year for this, and all the hotels around the Fair and Expo Center.
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