The streets surrounding the Jacques Cartier bridge in downtown Montreal’s east end were flooded on Friday morning after a major water main break occurred in the area.The city is still working to determine the cause of the break but officials said the pipe that burst was 84 inches.Mayor Valérie Plante said that the water main break “was under control.”
A number of streets in the area have been closed due to the flooding, as has the bridge itself, which is a major throughfare into the city.Chantal Morissette, who is in charge of water services for the city, said that crews had already begun to shut down the pipe although it would take several hours for that to occur.“It’s a huge one,” she told reporters, while explaining that there were four valves that needed to be closed to shut off the water and that it would take an hour or two to close each valve.“We have to take that time to plan carefully to make sure there won’t be any other break at the same time,” she noted.
The leak began a little before 6 a.m. at the intersection of René-Lévesque and De Lorimier Avenue and was continuing steadily about 45 minutes later.The water that is flooding into the area near the bridge is drinking water. While it sends water to the east end, officials do not believe it will
Firefighters were on the scene quickly and soon worked to clear the area, according to Martin Guilbault Division Chief Montreal Fire Service.“The first thing we did this morning was evacuate all of the buildings that were involved in the flood,” he said.
Guilbault said that firefighters were going door-to-door to see how many buildings had been effected by the event.“After everything is under control, we are going to have to go door to door to make sure that people can’t go back in their homes and everything is safe,” he explained.
More than 100 people were evacuated as a result of the water main break. Plante said they will be housed in emergency shelters.