Main Street in Downtown Farmville was closed between Second and Third Streets due to a water main break on Monday. One of the busiest sections of the road was blocked off throughout the day as crews worked to repair the break that was reported at 4 a.m. Monday morning.
Town Manger Gerry Spates said that a section of the pipe broke, fracturing and causing water to pour into the road. He said the break mainly affected businesses within one block of the damage area. The fracture caused some bricks to pop up along the sidewalk. Spates said crews had to reset those bricks as well as fix part of the road where the pipe had to be accessed.
One business, Blessing & Bell Attorneys at Law, suffered the most damage due to the water break. No damage was reported right in front of the break at Gregory Jewelry, but there was some next door at Green Front Inc.
Shelly Butler, sales associate at Green Front Furniture, said that the basement of building number six was flooded when she got there Monday morning around 10:30 a.m. She said there was about four inches of water covering the floor. While much of the furniture in the downstairs showroom wasn't damaged, couch skirts and oriental rugs were victims.
Butler said the owner had taken some of the most expensive pieces to North Carolina today in an effort to save them. While water was restored to other locations around town by the morning commute, Butler said Green Front had just received water around 4 p.m. Spates said the overall repair costs about $5,000 to $10,000 to fix.
He said the change in temperature looked to be the culprit. Monday morning was one of the coldest Farmville has seen all winter. He said the pipes weren't very old, but "even new pipes break sometimes."
Associate Director of Housing Operations for Residential and Commuter Life (RCL) Doug Howell said the break affected a few Longwood-managed buildings. He said at first, it seemed like only one building was affected at Longwood Landings, but it turned out that all four were affected.
French and Tabb Residence Halls were also affected, as well as Lancaster Hall. Howell said an employee had arrived early this morning and they could not make coffee because the water was out. The Hotel Weyanoke was also without water, as well as other locations in and around High St.
Domestic water was out from the time of the break until about 7:20 a.m. this morning, said Howell.Howell said RCL only received one call, which was from a resident assistant in the Landings, notifying them of the problem. He said they were in communication with the Longwood University Police Department (LUPD) for information. LUPD Chief of Police Bob Beach said he received the news about the water break from a sergeant who was working the midnight shift.
Students were not contacted via email, but Howell said an internal email was sent to RCL staff informing them of the situation.
Ben Myers, facilities operations manager for the university, said there were no real problems Monday morning. He said the Heating Plant was able to sustain itself without water for a while. "Most of the steam we send out, we get back through condensation," Myers said. He added, "We got through this pretty smoothly."
