Headaches only beginning for businesses affected by Elmhurst water main break

ELMHURST (WABC) -- A day and a half later, and a construction site in Elmhurst where a water main broke on Friday still looks like a lake. On Saturday night, there was about 16 feet of water still sitting there, and that means for all of the businesses next door that their headaches are only just beginning.

At Paddy G's sports bar, water is still flowing in from next door. The bar sits right behind the construction site where a contractor ruptured a 20-inch water main on Friday, sending thousands and thousands of gallons of water spewing in the street. Most of the construction equipment is still sitting under water.

Soda machines, water heaters and compressors were all damaged in the basement of Paddy G's, leaving many to wonder who is going to pay for the mess.

"We haven't heard much of anything yet. We've actually spoken to the person in charge of the construction site, spoke to the neighboring businesses, and nobody's really told us anything yet," says Manager Veronica Gilmartin.

Gilmartin says that what is even more frustrating is that they lost business on Friday night, and had to cancel a party Saturday night. In the middle of football season, that means big bucks down the drain for a sports bar.

At the 99 cent store across the street, employees have set up seven fans around the store, as well as a dehumidifier. Both the fan and the dehumidifier have been running since 7 p.m. Friday, and the carpet is still wet. They say they need more fans to do the job, but the electricity won't hold up. The carpet in the store will need to be replaced, and the merchandise on the lower shelves was all lost.

At the daycare center next door, the elevator is going nowhere, and at the salon down the street, countless customers are cancelling appointments throughout the weekend.

"Customers go away. They go to other salon already, you see. So we lose the customers, we lose the business, and then today we have no hot water at all," said salon employee Ling Ong, "so our customers, we got to suffer for the water, and they're not comfortable."

The salon expects to lose business for at least several more days, because that is how long it will take to get a new water heater. With no hot water, it is tough convincing customers to come in for a haircut.