WINNIPEG — The water only gushed out onto Bond Street for around an hour — but it took 251 days to clean up all the damage.
A water main broke on Jan. 10 outside Pandora Inn, but the Transcona business didn’t reopen until Sept. 18.
“We thought it was only going to take a few days,” said Lou-Ann Andrews, the owner of the restaurant at Pandora Avenue and Bond.
Water flooded the entire basement and pushed its way up to the main floor bar.
READ MORE: Restaurateurs clean up after massive water main break
Once the damage was assessed, Andrews realized the building’s electrical had to be completely redone and walls and flooring needed to be torn out.
Andrews’ husband, Joe, estimates the flooding caused $850,000 damage.
The pair have insurance but are still waiting for funds to cover business interruption. Joe pegged lost sales at $1 million.
Szeto’s Chinese Food rents space in the Pandora Inn and also reopened Thursday.
“It’s like Christmas,” said Becky Szeto, one of the owners. “I am so happy to come back here.”
The city repaired the water main but didn’t do a full replacement of it, Lou-Ann Andrews said.
“Do I worry it is going to break again? Of course,” she said.
Joe said he plans to increase his insurance coverage in case the water main breaks again.
The city says approximately 11 kilometres of water mains at over 47 different locations have been replaced so far this year.
A total of $16 million dollars is being spent on the 2014 water main renewal program.
Comments