Sewer emergency in Cape Cod resort town closes restaurants

PROVINCETOWN, Mass. (AP) — The popular Cape Cod resort of Provincetown has declared a sewer emergency and ordered restaurants to close immediately along a section of its bustling waterfront. Officials in the Massachusetts town said Thursday in a Facebook post that residential property on the affected sewer system must also reduce water use, including flushing toilets only “when absolutely necessary. ” Officials say that all public restrooms will also be shuttered Thursday and Friday and that portable toilets will be provided. They say the sewer shutdown during the busy summer season was necessary to prevent a further public health emergency after a thunderstorm taxed the sewer system.