SCRANTON, PA. Repair crews have been on the scene since Thursday when a water main broke at the intersection of North Washington Avenue and Mulberry Street in downtown Scranton.
A few days later, on Saturday, nearby businesses felt the effects.
Three Tiers Bakery decided to remain closed all day Friday due to a sudden loss of water pressure.
Their top priority: safety.
“We just decided to keep the store closed for the safety of our customers and employees,” said Genesis Vega of Three Tiers Bakery.
Events such as the World Cup fan zone a block from the courthouse square still drew large crowds to the city center, but now there are even more road closures. Those in attendance had to park three or four blocks away.
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Despite the crowds, Three-Tiers Bakery decided to close early Saturday at 3 p.m. instead of 7:30 p.m.
Even though they planned to extend the opening hours and menu until 10pm for the busy weekend.
“We had it as a special for this weekend, and now, unfortunately, we won’t be able to do it because we’ll have to close early,” Vega says.
The major outage left some businesses with dirty water and low pressure.
Spin & Savory’s Floriana Adraña says it’s been “definitely a slow couple of days.”
Directly across from where construction crews were working, Spin & Savory found itself in troubled waters.
“To make the dough and everything, we had to go out and buy jugs of water because the water was unusable,” Adranya says.
The owners also decided to close early.
“Unfortunately, no one can get here. It’s very difficult for our DoorDash to get here, for our customers to get here,” Adragna noted.
Despite these setbacks, business owners say they are grateful to those who worked to bring water back to this area of Scranton.
“They were working this morning at 5 a.m., so I just want to say thank you to everyone who is trying to solve this problem,” Vega says.
Repairs are expected to continue throughout the weekend.
Water tankers remain available between Mulberry and Linden streets, as well as at the Scranton Fire Station for residents who need water.