A fire alarm at TERZO went off early Thursday morning. When the Minneapolis Fire Department arrived, there was no smoke or fire. Instead, emergency crews found what the restaurant described as “an astounding amount of water” in its basement and main floor.

A City water main underneath 50th Street broke sometime before 3:30 a.m. on Thursday and flooded businesses including TERZO, Paperback Exchange Bookstore, Sparrow Café. Nearby residents also had to be evacuated.

A cause for the water main leak has not been identified, according to the City.

The damage to TERZO’s foundation was significant enough that City crews will be boarding up the entrance until engineers can assess the damage.

The 50th and Penn intersection remains closed to vehicle traffic and the City is asking people to avoid the area. Crews hope to have the intersection open by this weekend.

Businesses that are not on the southeast side of the intersection are open, including TERZO’s sister restaurants Broders’ Cucina Italiana and Broders’ Pasta Bar.  

“We are going to be dealing with the effects of this for a long time, and our locally owned businesses will feel this, too,” Ward 13 Councilmember Linea Palmisano said in an email to constituents on Friday morning.