State of Emergency declared in Brookville, fire ban issued due to water issue

Most city residents are without water because the city is experiencing a lack of water pressure as a result of damages to the Dayton water system that supplies water to Brookville. Those with water are under a boil advisory until further notice.

The city is under a fire ban, and trash pickup will be delayed one day.

Several areas in the city sustained severe damages, including the Terrace Park subdivision, Charlie Court and the Brookville Local Schools campus. The Brookville Police Department issued a 10 p.m. curfew for those areas.

As many people in Brookville deal with catastrophic damage to their homes, even more people in the community have spent days without water.

“This is like nothing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” said Shari Meyers of Brookville.

It’s forcing families to improvise.

“Buying bottles of water. Filling up buckets at other people’s homes to flush our toilets,” Meyers said.

The city of Dayton, which supplies water to much, but not all, of Montgomery County said things are improving, but that the boil advisory continues until further notice.

“We are hopeful that (Thursday) will start looking a lot more normal with regards to our water service operations,” Dayton City Manager Shelley Dickstein said.

The power came back on tonight at Brandon Beigelsperger’s house in Brookville, where he also started to see some water, though the pressure is still low.

Outside in  his neighborhood — one of the hardest hit in the city — many efforts to help are evident. People started leaving water and supplies on the curb for those in need.

Meanwhile, at a Brookville fire station, free breakfast, lunch and dinner is available for anyone who needs it. But countless people came for the free water.

“It’s been difficult to not have water,” Meyers said.

They’re thankful, given what neighbors down the street went through.

“I haven’t heard a lot of complaints. I think people are just happy everyone’s alive and no one got hurt,” she said.

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