Donelan’s damage extensive but store hopes to reopen next week

Donelan’s in Lincoln. (Image: Google Maps)

A broken water pipe isn’t such a big deal… or is it?

Customers who tried to shop at Donelan’s Supermarket in Lincoln on Sunday, Jan. 17 were met with closed doors after a water pipe ruptured the night before. The original expectation was that the store would be closed for just a few days, but that turned out to be overly optimistic given the extent of the damage.

The pipe that broke was in the ceiling of the basement, a 600-square-foot concrete room that houses all of the store’s electrical systems and refrigeration units as well as the hot water heater. The main shopping floor was spared, but power was knocked out for the whole store (and water was temporarily shut off for the entire mall until workers could get an initial handle on the situation), and hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment had to be replaced.

“I never thought I’d see anything like that,” said store manager Jason Deveau. “It was like a scene out of Titanic.” The stairway to the basement has 14 steps, then a turn and then five more — but when he arrived, only the first four steps were above water, which was nine feet deep. “When I first saw it, I figured we were going to be out for months.”

After ServPro pumped out the water, Deveau and Paul Wheaton from Wheaton Electrical Services stayed on site for 36 hours straight to get power restored (“he’s been unbelievable,” Deveau said.) The phone system was still out of order as of Wednesday night, and national supply chain issues have delayed delivery of parts from other parts of the country.

The $250,000 refrigeration units and hot water tank should be replaced by this weekend. The only thing still missing is a sprinkler system part that’s due to arrive Friday. But the snowstorm expected this weekend and the persistent delivery delays have made Deveau cautious. He estimated that the store would reopen by Wednesday, Feb. 2 at the latest, and hopefully even a day or two before that. It’s a seven-hour job to install the part, and the store must be restocked with perishables.

Employees were offered shifts at other stores while the Lincoln one was closed, though several opted to take vacation time instead, Deveau said.

This was not the first time disaster has struck Donelan’s. The Lincoln store was closed for 15 months when the roof collapsed after a heavy snow storm in February 2011. The chain was sold in June by Joe and Jack Donelan, but the new owners have been “super supportive” during the current crisis, Deveau said.

“We’re in the home stretch,” he said on Wednesday evening. “I just want to get us back to [serving] the community because a lot of people rely on us.”