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Fire line break floods businesses in downtown Phoenix

Posted at 9:52 PM, Jul 09, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-10 01:27:16-04

Crews have spent hours trying to dry out a number of warehouses in downtown Phoenix.

A spokesperson for the city’s water department says the cause of the flooding is a broken fire line near 16th and Jefferson streets.

The break caused water to pour out for more than eight hours. City officials did not immediately have an estimate for how much water was released, but one nearby business owner said the water inside her store was six inches deep in some places. The total cost of the damage? Well into four digits.

“It's thousands of dollars, it's thousands of dollars," said store owner Carlene Carnavale. "It's office furniture and it can't get wet and molded, so it's thousands of dollars.” 

Since the broken line was not a city water main, the city says the responsibility for the damage falls upon business owners and property managers.

It’s the second time in three weeks that a fire line has flooded some of the businesses according to another store owner who spoke to ABC15.