THE burst pipe in Shepstone Road which left New Germany residents high and dry on Thursday caused R20 000 worth of damage at a local supermarket.
The pipe which is believed to have burst in the early hours of Wednesday night flooded the road and also caused mud to erupt from the ground.
Co-owner of Chelsea Spar, Glen Jones, said they were shocked to find slimy mud all over, from the entrance to the back of the shop.
“Fortunately we do not keep stock on the floor or it would have been ruined. We had to hire a cleaning service to help us clean the floors which were covered in a lay of foam and it needed special detergents to remove it.
“The floor had to be sanitised because it is a food store,” he said.
Jones said because of cleaning up, the shop was opened at 7.20am when they usually open at 6am.
“We would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience.”
A worker from the eThekwini Municipality said they started working late on Wednesday night.
“We are not sure what caused the pipe to burst. My colleagues spent all night trying to pump the water out and we tried to find the pipe so we can replace it,” said the worker.
There was a water tank going around for residents who were affected by the water shortage.
Businesses in the area were also affected by the water shortage.
