Ruptured sprinkler pipe forces closures due to water
damage
Ruptured
pipe forces closures
Jessica Reynolds | The Daily StarA
sign outside the Autumn Cafe explaining its temporary closing is shown.
Posted: Friday, December 26, 2014
6:00 am
ONEONTA — A burst sprinkler pipe at
a downtown apartment caused extensive water damage to several Main Street shops
on Christmas Eve, officials and store owners said Wednesday.
Workers and shopkeepers milled
around 244 Main St. with mops and vacuums and worked to clean up the mess that
was left.
The ruptured pipe, located at a
third-floor apartment above the Autumn Cafe, burst sometime Tuesday night,
according to Brad Smith, a City of Oneonta firefighter. The pipe had been
frozen, but thawed with Wednesday’s warmer weather, causing the break.
Firefighters were called to the
scene at about 8 a.m. Wednesday, Smith said.
The water didn’t reach the county
office building next door to 244 Main St., Smith said, but it caused damage to
the third floor and several of the stores underneath, including the Autumn
Cafe, Razzle Dazzle and The Eighth Note Music Store.
Autumn Cafe owner Nancy Johnson, her
daughter and other helpers worked inside the damp restaurant Wednesday,
surveying the damage and trying to stay optimistic.
A sign outside the popular eatery
read, “Sorry, we are closed today due to a burst pipe ... Merry Christmas.”
Much of the restaurant’s food stock,
which was stored in the building’s basement, will have to be thrown away,
Johnson said, as she looked around the humid establishment and watched droplets
of water hitting the slick floor.
“We may have a limited menu
for a while,” Johnson said. “But it could have been worse. The artwork was
not damaged. We just have to get everything dried and clean it all up.”