The Southeast Asian Market in FDR Park sustained heavy damage from Saturday’s storm

Sokah McNear had just handed a customer a spiral potato from her stand at the Southeast Asian Market in South Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon when her husband pointed to the dark clouds that had suddenly gathered in the sky.

“I said, ‘OK, this is your last potato,’” recalled McNear, the vice president of the vendors’ association at the long-running outdoor market in FDR Park. She switched off her stove, and nearly a dozen friends and family members who had been working the stall with her started to pack up.

Within minutes, they were caught in a torrential downpour. Then came the winds, whipping through dozens of tents across the market.

McNear and her family were struggling to keep their tent from flying away when another vendor raced by, yelling that it was no longer safe to stay outside. As branches cracked and fell from nearby trees, they abandoned the tent and ran to their car.

“We sat in there for maybe five minutes. Then we came out and saw the devastation,” McNear recounted on Sunday.

All of the market’s 53 tents were damaged. Tables were overturned, with ruined food and clothing scattered throughout the market. Two vendors suffered minor injuries when a tree branch fell on their tent.

Flying debris left a cut on a customer’s nose, said Sonetha Svay, who sells cookies and bagels at the market. “Everything was just flying. We really didn’t know what to do — we just hung on,” she said.

Eventually, she sheltered in her car with the woman and two other customers. A tree branch also fell on a tent near hers, she said, but the vendors working there had already fled.

Afterward, Svay, McNear, and other vendors picked through what was left of the market in shock.

Melissa Mgar, the vendors’ association secretary, had raced home with her three young children after a falling tree branch narrowly missed their car. She returned to find all three of her family’s tents destroyed. “One was crumpled into a ball,” she said.

Food inside coolers had survived, but nearly everything else — including supplies for barbecue and papaya salad — was lost.

Mgar, who has been selling at the market for more than 20 years, estimated her losses at around $1,500. She said she believed inventory at her neighbor’s clothing tent next door was “completely damaged.” Svay also lost her tent and food and estimated damages around $1,000.

Between ruined food and other merchandise and broken tents and equipment, most stalls likely sustained damage between $500 and $1,000, McNear said.

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Vendors have already been struggling this season with market closures related to high-profile events like the World Cup at the sports stadium complex across the street from FDR Park, McNear said. Food and other supplies are more expensive now, too.

When she first saw the damage, McNear said, she panicked, worrying that vendors or customers had been injured. Once she made sure no one was seriously hurt, she said, her mind turned to the impact on the market. “These are people’s livelihoods,” she said.

By Sunday, the market was still closed for safety reasons. “You don’t want any more of these branches to fall,” McNear said.

Most vendors had managed to clean up what was left of their tents. Market organizers were encouraging donations from the public to help vendors rebuild. A “Dolla Holla” sale set for next weekend was postponed.

Trees had fallen all over the park, and the Friends of FDR Park marshaled volunteers to help clear debris. Park director John Murawski said he was too busy overseeing cleaning operations to comment. On the park’s Instagram account, staff noted that the storm had also caused flooding throughout the park.

McNear said that the market’s vendors are resilient and determined to bounce back from an unexpected setback.

“If you see any of the videos [from the market cleanup], everyone is still smiling. Everyone has such a positive attitude. Even with the devastation, we’re helping each other as a community,” she said.

Added Mgar: “After the storm, it’s going to be sunshine.”