Colfax water breaks cause basement floods

Freezing temperatures last week and into the weekend led to several Colfax water meters freezing and, in some cases, breaking.

“Often times when those mains freeze, they break,” said Matt Hammer, Colfax Public Works director.

Frozen water line breaks last week led to flooding at four Colfax businesses. Palouse River Quilts, Tick Klock Drug, Palouse River Rock and Hen House Chicks were all hit. The water meter froze in front of the former Glaser’s Jewelry location which is being remodeled into the new Carpenter, McGuire & DeWulf law firm.

All of the flooding was contained to basements at the businesses, and for the most part, the businesses operated without interruption.

Margo Balzarini, Palouse River Quilts owner, said the minor flooding was cleaned up and her business did not have to close.

“We had some water in the basement, and there was some water in the shop next door,” she said.

This flood was not the first this season for Palouse River Quilts. The first occurred just before Christmas. Balzarini reported that a pipe broke in the basement of the business and caused some flooding.

“We never had to shut down,” she said.

Balzarini said she is not sure what caused the pipe to break before Christmas.

At Tick Klock Drug, flooding was also contained to the basement. Owner Mark Johnson reported that the basement had about three inches of water, and all of it was pumped out. No extensive damage was reported.

“We had some shelving built, and thankfully we had everything on those shelves,” he said.

The basement at Palouse River Rock also had some water come in.

“It’s mostly cleaned up, but we’re still trying to dry some things out,” said Ben Kovanda with Palouse River Rock.

The most extensive damage was reported at Hen House Chicks. The flooding there was reported to have sent three feet of water into the basement, according to a Hen House Chicks Facebook post.

“People sometimes don’t go in their basements enough, and they unfortunately don’t catch these things right away,” said Hammer.

The flooding took out the furnace and hot water heater at Hen House Chicks. As of Tuesday, the business remained closed.

Hammer said his department responded to eight water line freezes on Tuesday alone.

“There hasn’t been any other flooding,” he said. “Some have just been going into the streets, and others haven’t broken when they’ve frozen.”

Hammer said it is important to be aware of the temperatures and keep a water trickle running when leaving a home or business.

“Leave a water trickle running when they’re going to be gone for extended period of time when it’s less than 10 degrees,” he said.

Temperatures for the remainder of this week are forecasted in the mid-30s, while temperatures next week are predicted to be back in the mid-20s.