A section of downtown Winston-Salem was without water for several hours Thursday when a contractor damaged a water main in the 600 block of Fourth Street, causing some businesses to close.
Young Cardinal Café and Co., at the corner of Fourth and North Spruce Streets, was among the shuttered establishments.
“You have to have hot, running water for people to wash their hands and do dishes,” explained Paul Hinson, the restaurant's general manager, citing state health codes. “Even if my water heater went out, I’d have to shut down until I got a new one.”
Diners already in the restaurant were allowed to finish their meals after the water was shut off at about 1 p.m., but new customers were turned away.
Other nearby businesses were more fortunate. Hinson pointed to one of them just a couple hundred feet to the east.
People are also reading…
“Our sister restaurant right over there, Jeffrey Adams on Fourth, still has water so they’re fine,” he said.
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Utilities customers from Broad to Marshall Streets were affected by the water shutoff, and Fourth Street was closed between Spring and Poplar streets during the repairs.
As workers cut into the Fourth Street pavement a block to the west, near Foothills Brewing, to reach the damaged main, Hinson said he hoped the water would be back on in time for the dinner rush.
“I called the city when it happened, and they couldn’t give me a time,” he added.
WS/FCU estimated that service would be restored sometime Thursday evening.
“A contractor was performing other work and accidentally hit the water main,” utilities spokeswoman Gale Ketteler said in an email when asked about the cause of the water issue. “We’re getting it fixed as quickly as possible.”
