WILTON — The Wilton post office was closed Wednesday because structural issues related to the roof make it unsafe, an official said.

Melissa Lohnes of U.S. Postal Service Corporate Communications said no timetable has been set for reopening.

The problem was discovered at closing time Tuesday afternoon, Lohnes said. If employees had not been leaving for the day, the office would have been evacuated, she said.

“We deemed it was unsafe to open the post office Wednesday morning,” she said.

The office needs to be inspected by experts, Lohnes said, to determine the problem and how long it will take to correct it. That will be up to the landlord, she said.

The flat-roofed building at 454 Main St. is leased from Fan Tan Realty LLC of East Rockaway, N.Y. The Postal Service has leased the space since February 1960.

Residents were surprised Wednesday morning to find a note on the door telling them mail operations have temporarily moved to the Jay post office at 158 Main St., 6.9 miles away. They are handed their mail there, Postmaster Carrie Pike said.

The Jay post office was chosen because it has space for Wilton employees and carriers to work, Lohnes said. Until the Wilton Post Office reopens, Wilton employees will work at the Jay site, she said.

The Jay’s post office hours will be the same as Wilton’s: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday and 9:30 a.m. to noon Saturday, she said.

Customers at Food City next door to the Wilton post office were voicing their concerns to store clerks Wednesday morning. They want to know why they moved operations to Jay instead of the East Wilton or Dryden post offices, Amanda Berry said. Many customers are seniors who walk to the post office for their mail, she said.

One customer called the Jay number listed on the sign, store clerk Karen Newton said, and was told some work was being done at Wilton and it would be closed for a couple days, maybe longer.

“Every customer wants to know what’s going on at the post office,” Newton said.

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