The major water leak that flooded a portion of the Centre-Sud has been partially resolved, but its exact cause is still unknown, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante said Friday morning.
“The situation is under control, but that doesn’t mean it’s over,” stressed Valérie Plante in a press scrum, a few steps from the flooded area near the Jacques-Cartier Bridge.
The Water Department (WSD) identified the pipe that caused the break and the valves that needed to be closed. “We’re going to take the time to close and isolate the pipe, we’re going to do excavations and we’re going to look at the extent of the damage,” said Chantal Morissette, Director of WSD for the City of Montreal.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Mayor Valérie Plante speaks with Chantal Morissette, Director of the Water Department.
Around noon, the City of Montreal issued a preventive boil water advisory in the boroughs of Mercier – Hochelaga-Maisonneuve and Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles and in Montreal East, due to the leak.
The notice targets the area south of Sherbrooke Street, between Alphonse D-Roy Street to the west and the tip of the island to the east.
The pipe that caused the leak, which supplies drinking water to the east end of Montreal, dates back to 1984 and is 84 inches in diameter. Repairing it will require “complex” work, according to Valérie Plante.
In the morning, the Montreal Fire Department (SIM) went door-to-door to evacuate residents whose homes were flooded, “especially garden floods, semi-basements and basements,” the mayor said. The evacuated people were taken care of by the Red Cross.
SIM teams are now busy assessing the water damage.
Valérie Plante asked the public to avoid the area, even areas where the water has receded. “It’s not because you don’t see water that we’re not working,” added Martin Guilbault, SIM’s division chief.