3 schools, restaurants affected after Stanley water main break

STANLEY, N.C. — The town of Stanley is without water Friday afternoon, according to officials. Three schools, a nursing home and several restaurants that use the water are affected.

Officials said someone was working on a fiber optic cable and broke the water main going to the water tower.

The outage forced students in Stanley to go home early. A nursing home was on a backup system and even fire departments are relying on tanker trucks.

At the Wood Shed restaurant, the faucet is dry and so is their business if the town can't get water flowing here soon.

"When you are a small family-run operation one big night is devastating," said operator Colin Withers.

They have two wedding parties and another group meeting Friday night.

Most of the food was prepared in advance, but the broken water line on their busiest night of the week has them praying for a quick fix.

All of the other restaurants in town have closed. Some put signs on their doors.

School officials said they had enough water on hand to have lunch at Kiser and Springfield elementary schools and Stanley Middle. There wasn't enough to flush the toilets so they closed at 1:30 p.m.

Interim City Manager Heath Jenkins said workers are trying their best to resolve the issue.

"We are responding to a situation that was beyond our control," Jenkins said.

He said a contractor laying fiber optic lines hit the line that supplies water to 1,600 homes and businesses in Stanley.

The town has sent electronic messages to residents keeping them updated on the efforts to fix the problem.

"We are just asking for your patience with this process," Jenkins said.

He said his staff is working to make sure people are safe.

They arranged to have tanker trucks are ready to supply water to firefighters in case of an emergency.