Business owner looks for answers after water main break results in $300K in damages

Business owner Angie Anspach is still cleaning up the mess from Winamac's water main break, which sent 250,000 gallons of water into the basement of her store, Refined Boutique, on Jan. 16, 2024.

It's been nine months since a water main break in Winamac flooded Refined Boutique, 102 N. Monticello St., rushing more than 250,000 gallons of water into the store basement. Store owner Angie Anspach is still looking for answers from the Town of Winamac about financial support from the $300,000 of damage Anspach was left with from the flooding. The incident happened Jan. 16, 2024, with Anspach discovering more than seven feet of water in the store basement, filling up each room to the rafters.

"According to the town of Winamac manager, all the water from the Winamac's water tower ended up in our basement," Anspach said. 

All merchandise and supplies in the basement were considered a total loss. The flood also led to the sidewalk in front of the store being partially caved in, resulting in Refined Boutique's front door having to be closed to the public since the incident. Having to deal with not having a front entrance to the storefront, Anspach says the aftermath still continues to financially impact her business. 

Anspach said the flood had happened at an inopportune moment, just before Refined Boutique's annual bag sale. The sale allows customers to get a bag full of clothes for $10 and is typically one of Refined's biggest sales of the year. After each bag sale in previous years, Anspach said she would use the profit to donate to charities like the American Diabetes Association. With all the items for the bag sale being in the basement, Anspach says the sale never happened for 2024, and she fears her lack of inventory may mean it won't happen in 2025 either, unless the town of Winamac steps in to help with the last of the repairs. 

"Now the store is struggling to get answers from the town of Winamac and their insurance, all the while people were looking forward to this sale for their families. The sale didn’t happen this year or maybe even next year," Anspach said.  

Anspach says the town of Winamac had supported her business in any way, but was thankful for friends and family that did help with things like cleanup and water removal. Anspach was still upset, however, that the town did not offer any help for even the cleanup. 

"They've been all around unhelpful, after telling us how great their insurance was and that they would take care of everything. Refined had to rent a dumpster that cost $1,000 to have all the damaged items hauled away. There was no saving anything from the basement," Anspach said.

Refined Boutique was able to get a small amount of money from their own insurance, but Anspach said the amount they did receive from that was not even a fraction of the cost that would be needed to cover the loss. Anspach said her point in bringing attention to the situation is so that it will hopefully not happen to others in the future.

"Don’t give business owners false hope that the town of Winamac will help when they won’t. If you do not know what your insurance will and won’t cover, please do not tell the homeowner or business owner that you will. The only thing I can say is that thank God my insurance gave us the tiny little bit it did, or we would be out of business," Anspach said. 

WROI GIANT.fm News spoke with Winamac Town Manager Brad Zellers, who said due to the situation being tied with insurance and lawyers he was unable to make any comments.