PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A water main break caused some damage to a building in downtown Pittsburgh Wednesday morning.

The doors opened and a steady flow of water streamed out of My Lady Boutique on Fifth Avenue, but it was only a precursor to what was inside.

Firefighters actually had to saw their way into the shop, inside water flooded the store and lot of merchandise was damaged.

“The tenant had turned off the heat and the lack of heat made the sprinkler pipe break, and ended up with about three feet of water in the basement,” said Chief Bill Martin, of the City of Pittsburgh Fire Department.

Firefighters pumped as much water as they could out of the shop.

The owner says he closed My Lady Boutique a few months ago because business was slow. He only used the shop for storage of leftover stock.

“A lot of inventory damage,” said Jeff Wieland, of McKnight Property Management. “There’s some drywall damage obviously. The fire department was extremely helpful. I can’t believe they go to the extremes that they are going to as far as pumping all the water out.”

Wieland manages the building. He says it’s too soon to tell just how much damage was done, but it definitely could have been worse.

“Water damage always looks worse than it does,” said Wieland. “Water can do a lot damage but in this particular situation, its not horrendous.”