A burst pipe threatened to put a damper on the holiday season last week in Poulsbo, when water damage from the overnight flooding forced three prominent businesses to close their doors.

As she posted signs stating Boehm’s Chocolates would be closed due to water damage, an employee of the Front Street chocolatier — who asked not to be named — described the extent of the flooding as “Like someone turned on several bathtubs and it’s now leaking through the ceiling.”

The Cargo Hold, and Salt Kettle were also closed as a result of the water damage. With businesses in downtown Poulsbo gearing up for the holiday season, it appeared that the flooding couldn’t have come at a worse time.

In an interview last week, Karen Suther said in the more-than 30 years that she and her mother have owned Boehm’s, she has never experienced anything on the level of the flooding last week.

“Being that it’s the busiest time of year for us, it’s really heartbreaking,” Suther said shortly after discovering the water damage last Thursday. “We opened at 9:30 and noticed that our little window panes all had condensed water on them, opened up and it’s just raining from the ceiling … A pipe burst and who knows when? I left at eight o’clock last night. With it being so cold last night, I don’t know how long it was flooding.”

It appeared that the flood spelled certain disaster for the downtown businesses, but according to Suther, a bit of hard work and a little help from their friends and neighbors has resulted in all three of the businesses reopening their doors after being closed for only two days.

“We’ve been open since Saturday, and we have everything back in order and making up for lost time,” Suther said. “We’ve been filling mail orders like crazy … It was a rough couple of days but we’re good now.”

Suther said she didn’t expect the sudden saturation of her sweet shop to hinder Boehm’s ability to handle the holiday rush.

“We’ve got a great, big staff that is working long hours to get us caught up and we’re just filling orders right and left,” she said. “Friends and family and merchants around town have all pitched in to get all three of us — The Cargo Hold, Salt Kettle and Boehm’s — back in order and up and running.”

It’s a Christmas miracle, actually,” she added.

— Nick Twietmeyer is a reporter with Kitsap News Group. Nick can be reached at ntwietmeyer@soundpublishing.com.