Residents, city face considerable cleanup work after east-end water-main break

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Murray Wright was smoking a cigarette outside his basement-level apartment in Montreal’s Centre-Sud neighbourhood Friday morning when he heard a loud crashing sound in the distance.

Turning around, Wright saw what he described as a “wall of water” gushing down his street. He rushed inside and lifted whatever he could from the floor.

Before he knew it, nearly three feet of water was pushing against his front door and seeping through. He climbed out his kitchen window.

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“I got lucky because I got everything off the floor, kind of, and my door was holding the water back sufficiently enough,” Wright, 50, said on Saturday, taking a break from cleaning mud and dirt from his floors. “It was a lot of water.”

A day after major water main break near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, residents in the sector were dealing with the aftermath Saturday while questioning how so much water flooded the area.

The break originated on René-Lévesque Blvd., east of de Lorimier Ave., around 5:45 a.m. A geyser of water shot several feet into the air over the course of the morning, flooding about 50 homes and 20 businesses.

A boil-water advisory caused by the break remains in effect for parts of the boroughs of Mercier — Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Rivière-des-Prairies-Pointe-aux-Trembles, as well as Montréal-Est.

People living south of Sherbrooke St. in those areas are asked to boil water for one minute before consuming it or using it to brush their teeth.

The city is yet to explain what caused the break. The nearly two-metre-wide pipe was installed in 1985 and was part of the city’s drinking water network.

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City of Montreal spokesperson Philippe Sabourin said Saturday there’s a considerable cleanup operation required after the pipe gushed water for several hours into streets, intersections and people’s basements.

“Everything exploded yesterday, including pieces of asphalt,” he said. “The concrete part of the street, it’s completely collapsed. There’s no more sidewalks anymore, so there’s a big hole here.”

Sabourin said it would be at least a month before the break can be repaired, in part because the city doesn’t have all the necessary parts and equipment on hand. In the coming days, he said the city will focus on fixing the street and inspecting the water main before the repairs can take place.

He said it’s still unclear what caused the pipe to break only 40 years into what should have been a 100-year lifespan. One hypothesis is the water main was exposed to road salt that caused corrosion, “but at this point it’s too early to tell,” Sabourin said.

All streets affected by the break have reopened to traffic and an extra garbage pickup was being organized to collect the debris from flooded homes and businesses.

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About 14,000 Hydro-Québec clients were without electricity on Friday after power to the area was cut, but the utility’s outage map suggested that number was down to just over 300 as of early Saturday afternoon.

Firefighters had asked residents of nearby buildings to evacuate on Friday morning, citing concerns around flooding and structural damage from the water. The Red Cross was tasked with helping the flood victims, but Sabourin said only three people needed emergency housing.

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In the area on Saturday, hydro excavation trucks could be seen still pumping out impressive amounts of water from commercial and condominium buildings on de Lorimier Ave.

Electricians visited nearby buildings as visibly frustrated residents carried out soaked debris and belongings to the sidewalk, including instruments, furniture and hot-water tanks.

France Therrien’s three-storey apartment building on René-Lévesque Blvd. was still without power early Saturday afternoon, with the hallways dark and the emergency alarm ringing on repeat.

A letter from the city affixed to the entrance advised residents Red Cross services are available for 72 hours. Water quickly reached the entrance’s front step on Friday, Therrien said, but stopped just short of entering the building.

“It was impressive, and it was scary because I didn’t want to need to leave,” said Therrien, 74. “Good thing it went down.”

According to the city, the geyser was considered under control by 9 a.m., though water continued to flood surrounding streets into the afternoon.

The main break came exactly a week after Montreal was hit by the remnants of post-tropical storm Debby, which battered the city with a record-breaking 150 millimetres of rain.

A water-main break also occurred near the McGill University Health Centre in July, disrupting service at the hospital for hours.

With files from the Canadian Press.

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