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Water main break floods pregnancy center

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Updated 8:54 AM Monday, January 23, 2012

By Denise G. Callahan

Staff Writer

MIDDLETOWN — A water main break at the Community Pregnancy Center wrecked havoc Sunday morning, but the center’s executive director vows to persevere and emerge even stronger.

When Candice Keller arrived at the center at 1131 Central Avenue early Sunday morning, water was gushing out of windows and came flooding out of the building when she unlocked the door.

A water main break on the fourth floor of the building sent gallons of water rushing through the ceiling of the first floor center, drenching everything. She said their computers, furniture, baby clothes and more was soaked.

“I’m sort of still in shock,” she said.

The center provides free counseling and baby clothes, formula, diapers and other baby supplies to pregnant teens. Keller said they see 1,800 teens a year and six out of 10 are pregnant. Their youngest mom this year was 12.

Keller said the center will have to be closed for a least a couple of weeks while they sort through what can be salvaged and/or needs to be fixed.

“As my husband would say, drywall and water don’t go well together,” she said. “But we will come back and we’ll be stronger and more effective.”

Since the center is the only service of its kind in the area, she wants to be able to reopen as quickly as possible. She said when they were readying the center to open — ironically two years ago Sunday — their services were suspended for about three weeks and she was getting phone calls from the Butler County Health Department asking when they would be open. The girls were going there since their alternative wasn’t ready.

“It kind of made me feel good,” she said. “I thought we really need to be here, we must be here, there’s no one else that does what we do, no one.”

Middletown Deputy Fire Chief Brent Dominy said the gushing water doused the entire building.

“Dollar-wise I can’t put a specific figure on it,” he said. “But it was extensive.”

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4525 or dcallahan@coxohio.com.

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