LEWISTON – More than 80,000 gallons of water poured out of the basement of the vacant McCrory’s department store, flooding downtown sidewalks and sending worried shop owners into adjacent buildings to check on the welfare of their businesses.
The break, which was reported by a passerby about 6 p.m. Saturday, caused an estimated $25,000 to $35,000 in damage to the basement of the building at 64 Lisbon St. Capt. Larry Morin of the Lewiston Fire Department said he expected it would take 10 to 12 hours to pump out the basement.
Once the water was gone, the cause of the break could be investigated.
“It could have started early yesterday morning,” Morin, who coordinated efforts at the scene, said Saturday. He said it was likely that frozen pipes either burst or split and that Friday and Saturday’s warm temperatures caused thawing, which led to the flood.
Firefighters called for city water department crews to shut off water to the building when they first got to the scene. Water works crews arrived about 20 minutes after getting the call, and first tried to turn off water from a Lisbon Street main without luck. They then went to a main on Park Street and were able to stop the flow.
Central Maine Power was called to the scene to cut the power to that area, and traffic was blocked on Lisbon Street from Ash Street to Main.
The building had recently been purchased by a Bangor company and was being managed locally by Joe Dunn.
Construction crews have been rehabbing the site for the past several weeks, tearing down ceilings and ridding the store of debris. A mini excavator was visible on the first floor.
The building had been vacant since last fall when its former occupant, Final Harvest – a discount merchandise store – closed.
Morin said it looked like the concrete floor of the McCrory’s building was fine. Most of the estimated damage was in clean-up costs in the basement, he said.
Fire crews who first responded to the scene saw sheets of water gushing from the building’s foundation, flooding across the brick sidewalk and spilling into Lisbon Street.
More than seven feet of water filled the building’s basement before rushing onto the sidewalk. A nearby city storm drain was overwhelmed by the volume of water pouring from the building; puddles up to 4 inches deep formed on the sidewalk and in the street.
Firefighters noticed what looked like water pooling in the rear of the first floor of Gil Poliquin’s Hearing and Optical Center, the business next door to McCrory’s. The owners of that business, as well as Terry’s Bridal Fashions, were asked to check on their businesses.
Fire crews also checked out Chopsticks on Park Street and the adjacent night club, formerly Augustine’s, which is now closed. Morin said minor damage was caused by leaking in the night club, but that crews from Theriault Management were working on containing it.
There was also some minor leakage between the basement walls in Poliquin’s and Terry’s Bridal Fashions, “but nothing that would disable the businesses,” said Morin. He said the flood seemed to have knocked out phone service to those two businesses, perhaps by saturating the junction boxes, but phone service crews were working on the problem Saturday night as well.
Rosa Oijales, owner of Terry’s Bridal Fashions, arrived to check on damage to her store, but found only a little water in the basement.
“Thank the Lord it was nothing more,” she said. “And thankfully no one was hurt.”
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