A broken water main flooded an office building in Billings Wednesday night, and the freezing temperatures made it nearly impossible to get inside, with the business sealed shut.
“We had to find somebody with a blowtorch to go through the ice,” said Tarra Grazley, owner of TTG Financial, one of the affected businesses.
The water main broke on Fourth Avenue North between North 31st Street and North 30th Street.
The water flowed across the sidewalk toward the door and the ice buildup was about five inches high.
Grazley needed help to get into her offices.
“Right in the front doors and then kind of where the reception desk was, you'd step on it and the water definitely through the rug was over your shoe,” Grazley said.
“We like to see about 12 percent relative humidity,” Steve Longshore, Big Sky Renovation owner, said. “This is showing 30 to 40 percent, so it's pretty high.”
Longshore is now working to clean up the mess at TTG Financial.
“With this water, it's got a lot of micro-organisms. Nothing's clean,” Longshore said.
Furniture has been moved, some computers needed to be replaced, and so does the carpet.
“We'll probably have to take off some base trim, maybe make some holes in the wall to get air in,” Longshore said.
Right next door, Mia's Wok closed because it did not have water to operate the cooler and had to take its food to be preserved at other restaurant coolers.
“It's a little stressful,” said Tobee Keutla, Mia’s Wok owner. “We have to figure out what we have to do. We call our employees saying we can't work, so they don't have a paycheck there. And then we have to run around like I said to keep our product cold."
And it was a similar story across town where a water main also broke on Beth Drive between Rimrock Road and Poly Drive, flooding at least two homes.
“My concern is for my dogs,” said Kelly Schieno about the thick layer of ice on his lawn.
Schieno and his wife had flooding inside and a big sheet of ice outside that he says directed the water toward his home, and that ice takes up most of his lawn.
He says the flood damage is overwhelming but he is dealing with the challenges as they come.
“This is a life event,” Schieno said. “This is just part of being a homeowner. You’ve got to roll with it and just do your best.”
A mess from one end of Billings to another as the bitter cold departs and the snow starts to melt.
