A burst to the city's water main in Whitefish early Monday morning left much of the city without water for parts of the day. Crews worked quickly to isolate the rupture and restore water pressure to the system, but local businesses took a hit.
Samantha Willden works at Cowgirl Coffee's kiosk on Baker Avenue, a few blocks away from where the water main burst. She says the kiosk lost water pressure entirely for the bulk of Monday's morning coffee rush:
"We normally do a pretty solid chunk of our business throughout the morning, so I'd say at least two-thirds of our normal business was just kind of gone."
With no water and a boil water advisory issued by the city, Willden says Cowgirl Coffee decided to call it quits.
"It was a bit of a mess," Willden says.
Other businesses, like the Great Northern Brewing Company downtown, avoided washing dishes or making new ice.
City managers lifted the boil water advisory this morning after a laboratory reported bacteriological samples collected throughout the system are safe.
Baker Avenue has reopened to traffic after crews dug through the street to isolate the burst, but City Manager Adam Hammatt says significant repairs are necessary to restore the roadway.