FARMINGTON — TD Bank on Broadway is on track to reopen Wednesday after its basement was flooded by a broken water main over the weekend, bank spokesperson Rebecca Acevedo said Tuesday.
An 8-inch water main broke and flooded the basement and some of the first floor. Workers have been cleaning and drying the building, ripping up carpet, replacing an electrical panel and replacing damaged Sheetrock.
The majority of the bank’s computers, furniture, teller desks and machines were not damaged and no information was lost, Acevedo said.
Farmington Water Department Superintendent Tom Holt said it was a typical water main break for this time of year. There was also a second main break farther up the road. He said both have been repaired.
The first one near the bank was in the alley between the bank and Gem Stones and the water had no place to go but into the basements. It was a line that feeds the bank’s sprinkler system, he said.
The first break was fixed Saturday morning and the second one was fixed Monday, Holt said. The line didn’t freeze, he said, but during this time of year the ground shifts.
“Once you start with one, you usually get another. We did. We’re not out of the woods yet,” Holt said of the breaks.
Next door to the bank at Trask Jewelers on Main Street, owner John Anderson said they were still cleaning up and drying out Tuesday. He is hoping to reopen either Friday or Saturday, he said.
Everything in the cellar was destroyed, he said.
“Forty years of paperwork is all gone,” Anderson said.
He estimated more than $10,000 damage was done to his building alone. Silt got into everything, he said.
The electrical panel needed to be replaced.
Manager Beth Neeley and Anderson have collected items for years to use in window displays, he said.
“A lot of things you cannot readily buy,” he said. “They have been pieced together over 18 years that she has been here.”
The first floor of the jewelry store was not damaged, he said.
“All customers’ stuff is safe,” he said. “We’re offering to help anyone in need.”
Some customers have been calling and asking for a special gift or to pick up something that was repaired or needed by a special day and they have accommodated them, he said.
It is being done on a case-by-case basis, Anderson said. The insurance company has said they’ll stand behind the store.
“It is unpleasant and inconvenient but we’ll get by it and be open for business,” he said.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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