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NATCHEZ — The 100 block of North Commerce Street was closed Monday, unexpectedly affecting business owners and shoppers in downtown Natchez.

Ann Simons, owner of Planet Thailand at 116 N. Commerce St., shared on social media at about 11 a.m. that the restaurant would be closed because the water to the restaurant and other buildings in the block was shut off. The Natchez Water Works had to replace a fire hydrant in that block.

Simons said she was frustrated because she had not received notice from the city that her restaurant would not have water today.

“This affected my staff, some of whom live 30 minutes away. They had to travel to work one day after the balloon festival, only to find out we couldn’t open. I had to get up early and get groceries. I still had groceries in my car when I discovered we had no water,” she said.

“We received no notice at all. I thought I must have missed a phone call or an email, but after checking, no one on the street knew about it. I checked with several people, and they were not notified, either,” Simons said.

She said she owns a short-term rental next to her restaurant, and thankfully, her guests had checked out before the water service was cut off.

At first, Simons thought the road closure and water outage were part of the city’s sidewalk improvements in that block of Commerce.

“I think they have opened the street up now, but it’s too late for us to have dinner service now,” Simons said. “They should have known last week that they would have to close the road, shut off the water, and notify us then. They should be working on a schedule, but it doesn’t seem like that’s happening. It’s a big mess.”

However, Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson, who was away from his office today, said that was not the case.

“This work was not related to our Commerce Street project. Natchez Water Works had to replace a fire hydrant. Jeff Gamberi of Natchez Water Works said they did their best to notify individuals on the street, but apparently, they did not get to everybody.

“I asked Jeff in the future to communicate with the mayor’s office so we can help disseminate information. I do apologize to any businesses affected by the outage, and I hope this can help us better manage these situations in the future,” Gibson said.