Water main break in Davis building leaves local businesses with major damage

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - A vegan restaurant in downtown Toledo is struggling to stay afloat right now after a water main break left four inches of standing water in The Leaf and Seed Cafe and other business in the Davis building.

Susan Herhold is the owner of The Leaf and Seed.

“In our cafe in particular, we have flooring damage, our tables are damaged, the bottom of our counter top is damaged. We had about four inches of standing water when we arrived down here,” said Herhold.

The water main break happened over Christmas when no one was in the building. The damage started on the third floor and water came all the way down to the first floor.

“It’s a mess in there,” said Herhold.

Right now, the building still does not have water, and it might take as long as two weeks for the businesses inside to reopen.

“I’m feeling sad, very sad and heartbroken,” said Herhold. “We are struggling to stay afloat down here as it is, and this is just one thing that we did not need.”

She said insurance is covering a lot of the damage, but she is thinking about her workers.

“It doesn’t cover my employees, their loss of wages, and I have 13 employees that depend on their weekly paychecks to pay their bills and feed their families,” said Herhold. “That’s been really tough for me, knowing that they don’t have a job right now.”

Herhold said the community has rallied around her, but there is still a lot of work to do. Right now, she is taking donations just to help pay her employees for the week.

Herhold also wants to remind Toledoans to shop locally.

“Once we are back open, come down to the Davis building and check it out and support the businesses that are here,” said Herhold.

If you’d like to help The Leaf and Seed get back on its feet, you can donate on its website.

See a spelling or grammar error in our story? Please include the title when you click here to report it.

Copyright 2022 WTVG. All rights reserved.