Pipe burst in vacant restaurant

HAVELOCK | Havelock officials said cold weather likely caused a sprinkler system pipe to burst in a vacant restaurant on Friday.

A driver noticed water cascading from the roof of the former Carolina Grill restaurant at the corner of U.S. 70 and Tourist Center Drive in Havelock around 12:42 p.m. and called authorities.

A passerby saw all the water and called the station, said Havelock Police Sgt. John Austin, who responded to the scene. There was no way that you could have gone by and not seen it. It was like Niagara Falls coming out of there.

Fire Marshal John Lewis said that temperatures that dipped into the teens and lower 20s the past couple of nights may have caused the pipes to freeze and then burst, causing the massive leak.

We have a case of frost bite, Lewis said. We have a frozen pipe that was outside on the sprinkler system and was exposed to the cold.

Lewis estimated that several hundred gallons of water flowed out of the sprinkler system both inside and outside of the building.

He said the water appeared to cause part of the ceiling to collapse outside and appeared to have resulted in two to three inches of water being inside the dining room.

The 7,172 square-foot building is owned by Carolina East Investments LLC. It was built in 2008 and has a tax value of $793,000 according to Craven County tax records. The restaurant closed in 2013.

Id like to see this place used again, said Mike Cerjan, a Havelock building inspector. We dont like to see any vacant buildings. Its a nice size restaurant.

The owners could not be reached for comment and no damage estimate was unavailable.

Read this article:
Pipe burst in vacant restaurant