A water main break north of downtown St Joseph continues to leave dozens of homes and businesses without water service.

Christie Barnhart of Missouri American Water says a sixteen-inch transmission main broke at about 2pm on Sunday.

Barnhart could not offer specifics as to how many customers were without water service, but she estimated it was “less than 100.” Those customers are along Powell between Sixth and Ninth, North Seventh between Lincoln and Powell, and North Eighth from Lincoln to Albermarle.

The repairs are proving difficult. North Sixth Street remains closed between Powell and Albermarle Streets.

Barnhart says she could not offer any estimate as to when service would be restored. The outage forced AFL-CIO Community Services to postpone the start of its Adopt-A-Family Christmas program at least until Tuesday.