CHESTERFIELD • Water that swamped the Dillard’s store at Chesterfield Mall after a water main ruptured Wednesday morning could shutter the store for weeks, a fire official said.

“It’s a significant event here,” Fire Marshal Roger Herin of the Monarch Fire Protection District said. “It’s a large loss for the store.”

Herin said an underground 8- or 10-inch main outside the store broke about 9 a.m. Wednesday, carrying water into the building on the third floor on the east or southeast side of the building. Water leaked down onto the second and first floors.

“There was so much water damage by the time we got there,” Herin said. “On the second and first floors, there is significant amount of merchandise soaked.”

Herin said it could be “days, if not weeks” before the store can reopen. Once the cleanup is complete, he said, the sprinkler system will have to be back in service before Dillard’s can reopen. Herin said firefighters had to shut off power because of wet electrical equipment.

A Dillard’s spokeswoman said the company was still assessing the damage Wednesday and couldn’t say when the store would reopen.