Frozen Pipe Bursts; Floods Shop on Main St

A water pipe froze and burst in an upstairs apartment and sent water pouring into a newly remodeled Main Street shop Tuesday morning.

A passerby noticed water pouring out of the doorway of the Sagegrass Gallery at 156 Main St. and informed police at about 5:40 a.m., according to reports. Firefighters arrived quickly and gained entry to a vacant apartment above the gallery while the water main was shut off, Fire Chief Dave Rand said.

A pipe near the front window of the apartment, which juts out over the sidewalk, had burst, Chief Rand said, sending water all over the floor of the apartment and down the walls and into the gallery below.

The apartment was heated, Chief Rand said. He suspected that cold air had infiltrated the space around the pipe and caused the freeze. The same pipe froze once before, several years ago, he said.

Gallery owner Sue Stanley moved the business from Bayside Landing to the Main Street location this winter and plans to open again in the spring. She was devastated when she first walked into her shop Tuesday morning, she said.

“We had just got the painting completed. Literally, Friday it was done,” she said. “The biggest concern at this point is how the insurance is going to handle all this.”

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