DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - Several businesses in Doral have been forced to close as crews work to repair a broken water main.
Kelly Gonzalez owns one of those businesses in the area, and she hopes for a quick and speedy repair to the water main after she was forced to turn several customers away, Tuesday morning.
Gonzalez is not the only one. Restaurants and salons have also closed, and a nearby hotel has even seen early checkouts.
A nearby cafe was limited on what they could sell to customers.
“Today we have to just sell a couple of things or if we have to close for something, it kills us,” said shop owner Manuel Sulbaran. “We have homemade empanadas today, desserts and soft drinks.”
Officials said water at residential and commercial businesses is expected to be restored Tuesday evening.
Water at the detention center is estimated to be restored Wednesday morning, according to officials.
Miami-Dade Water and Sewer crews are currently tasked with fixing the broken water main, near Northwest 41st Street, just off the Florida Turnpike. The break has been causing trouble since 5 p.m. Monday.
“We believe it’s a 24-inch main, which is actually rather significant,” said Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Director Kevin Lynskey.
County officials said a contractor was doing work for the city when the break happened. Crews have since discovered multiple punctures and damaged areas.
While the effort to repair the water main continues, traffic delays and boil water notices have been issued.
The boil water notice is expected to be reinforced later tonight as crews conduct testing of the water. Officials expect this process to take a couple of days before the city can decide when the notice can be lifted.
Miami-Dade College tweeted that classes at its West Campus have been moved to the Kendall Campus for Tuesday.
Classes at West Campus July 3 have been moved to Kendall due to the ongoing repair nearby. View class locations at https://t.co/ek7goaJMfb
— MDCAlert (@MDCAlert) July 3, 2018
Officials also said they want to find out exactly how the water main managed to break.
“When construction happens, we go out in advance and attempt to mark all the problem areas where there are pipes, so it’s yet to be known, to understand whether there’s blame involved here,” Lynskey said.
Officials said crews have been working all through the night to repair the damaged pipe.
“Not only was the entire length of the pipe scraped, but there were multiple puncture marks,” said Miami-Dade Water and Sewer Spokesperson Jennifer L. Messemer-Skold.
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