Cause of major water main break remains unclear, Montreal mayor says

Montreal continued to clean up Monday after a major water main break flooded streets, paralyzed traffic, and forced emergency evacuations from water-logged buildings east of downtown right before the weekend.

“It was a big week,” Mayor Valérie Plante said in an update outside a construction zone in the morning, adding the city is “supporting citizens in its next steps.”

It’s still not clear what led the pipe near the Jacques Cartier bridge to burst, according to Plante. The water main break turned into a dramatic geyser last Friday morning, with many waking up to firefighters urging them to leave their homes.

The city says 50 buildings were flooded when millions of litres of water erupted onto streets, and 16 households have asked the Red Cross for emergency housing. The gushing waters left than 150,000 people under a boil-water advisory for over a day.

On Monday, Plante said workers were removing debris from roads in the area, but it will take time to get the parts to repair the pipe, which is two metres wide.

Chantal Morissette, director of Montreal’s water department, said the pipe that burst was among the city’s most vulnerable and had suffered corrosion over the years.

The incident happened to come one week after Montreal was hit hard by the remnants of tropical storm Debby, which dumped more than 170 millimetres of rain on some parts of the island. The record rainfall led to water-logged homes and highways.

Debby’s deluge on Aug. 9 flooded 3,300 private buildings and about 60 municipal buildings, Plante said.

“It was a difficult week for hundreds of Montrealers,” Plante said.