September 11, 2024 |
Photo – City Market logo – Bigfoot99 file photo
Last week’s water breaks in Rawlins shut down the local supermarket. Unable to sell any product during the closure, the store manager donated large quantities of food to local charities.
Over the Labor Day weekend, a failed pressure reducing valve caused six separate water main breaks in Rawlins. The pipe ruptures left many homes and businesses without water. City Market, located on North Higley Blvd, had no water for six days.
Store manager Herb asked Bigfoot99 not to use his last name or voice on the radio. Herb said on Sunday, September 1st, a nearby water main break flooded his store. While repairing the leaks, Rawlins utility workers were forced to shut off the water supply to the area. Without running water, Herb said City Market was legally required to close.
Herb said roughly an inch of water covered the sales floor. Thankfully, the store manager said most products were undamaged by the water. However, over four feet of water filled the store’s basement, covering the refrigeration compressors.
With the refrigerators down, Herb said his team moved quickly to load cold items into refrigerated trucks, saving most of the products.
With the store closed for the foreseeable future, Herb said the City Market corporate office gave him permission to donate all out-of-date items and produce to local charities.
Herb said City Markey already donates out-of-date products to Saint Vincent de Paul. However, the store manager said he gave away roughly 100 times the usual number of items to the charity organization last week. Saint Vincent de Paul volunteers have already distributed the entire donation to the community.
Herb said he is unable to share exactly how much product the store gave away.
In his 30 years in the business, Herb said he has experienced flooding, power outages, and numerous other difficult situations. However, the store manager said he’s never experienced them all at once until last week. Herb thanked his team for their hard work during the emergency.
Water service was returned to the grocery store last Friday. Despite a few bare shelves, Herb said City Market is back up and running.
