Water main break floods hostel and garages

WINNIPEG – Another water main broke Friday morning, this time along Ellice Avenue near Kennedy Street.

A hostel at the intersection is just one of the businesses flooded after the main ruptured about 6:00 a.m.

“The water was coming from the outside, coming right into the door, all the mud come in, there was six to nine inches of water inside, when we opened the door the water started shooting into the dining room,” said Ashwani Nagpal, owner of Hostel Royal Plaza.

Nagpal’s staff have been working all day cleaning the muddy mess, but guests at the hostel are still feeling the effect.

“We tell our guests, ‘we can’t give you anything cooked from the kitchen and we are not able to serve any hot meal,’” said Nagpal.

Now that the City has shut off the water, guests also can’t shower, use toilets, or stay warm because the heating boiler is near empty.

The City is trying to find the exact location of the leak but in the mean time it’s not liable for any damage caused by a water main break.

Underground parking garages near the hostel also flooded.

The worst hit was the lower level of Portage Place Parkade.

“It’s a mess, I hope they get everything remedied soon, I feel badly for everyone down here who doesn’t know it’s filling up with water,” said one driver.

Fork North Parking, the owner of Portage Place Parkade said it’s confident there won’t be any damage.

It took over six hours for the City to shut off the frozen water pipe, making hard work of the backlogged drain pipes in the parkade.

Manitoba Public Inusrance says it does not insure water main breaks but if vehicles were damaged by water from a break then they will cover any losses.