Pie-IX Blvd. water main break leads to 209 flood claims against Montreal

The city of Montreal has received 209claims for flood damage caused by a majorwater main break thatengulfed parts of St. Michel and St. Lonard in October.

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Just before dawn on Oct.30, police got a call about water gushing into the street at the corner of Pie-IX Boulevard and Villeray Street.

It took city crews about five hours to shut off water valves and find the initial break in the 1.2-metre (48-inch) pipe, leaving severalcity blocks knee-deep in water. Dozens of basements and garages were flooded.

Electricity was temporarily cut off to the affected neighbourhoods, and a boil-water advisory was also issued for three boroughs.

Residents had 15 days after the flood to filea claim with the city.

Of the 209 claims that came in, 32 were for damaged vehicles. The rest was for damage to real estate.

To put that in perspective, the city received a total of346 claims related to broken water pipes in 2013 and 465 in 2014.

By mid-November of this year, the city had received610 claims, which it saidincludes most of the claims related tothe Pie-IX Boulevard incident.

The city has 60 days to resolve the claims and doesn'texpect to settle them until the New Year.

Pipe failure surprising

Six weeks later, it's still a mystery what caused the pipe, which was made of reinforced concrete, to fail.

"It's surprising that it happened at all," said Ronald Gehr, a McGill Universityprofessor of civil engineeringwho specializesin municipal sewage and water systems.

"Let's face it, how often does this kind of thing happen?" Gehr asked."It's very rare to have such a major pipe, such a large pipe, failing."

After the break, traffic was closed to Pie-IX Boulevard for more than a week to allow crews to repair the water main and replace two other segments that showed signs of corrosion.

100-year life span

The water main is about 50 years old and was supposed to have a 100-year life span.

It was last inspected in 2012 and showed no signs at the time of failure or breakage.

The city is still investigating and working in the area to prevent other breaks.

Gehrsaidthe city is likely looking at construction records, doing soil sampling and studyinggroundwater flow to understand what happened to trigger the incident.

Philippe Sabourin, a city spokesman, said Montrealalso plans more camera inspections inside the pipe to help identify any weaknesses.

Based on those results, Sabourin said new observation wells may need to be dug to inspect the outside of the pipe.