Dual water main breaks cause flooding in Lower Sackville homes

LOWER SACKVILLE, N.S. – Residents in Lower Sackville were faced with no water service and flooded homes after two waiter main breaks occurred only hours apart on Thursday.

On Friday, work crews were digging up Aspen Crescent after a water main broke on the street around 9 p.m. the previous night. Lorraine Bellefontaine, who lives on the street, said it was a shocking scene when she first noticed what happened.

A few hundred feet of the pavement was being ripped up to Riverside Drive. It will be graveled, and paved in the spring.

Winter is the worst time for water main breaks, due to frost.

“The ground’s moving and temperature changes is part of that, so it just adds to the stress that water mains are under,” said Reid Campbell, director of water services at Halifax Water.

An earlier water main break on Thursday in Lower Sackville around 2 p.m. occurred near the intersection of Lennox Drive and Riverside Drive. Water flooded the street and quickly made its way into two nearby homes. One had two feet of water rush in, and the one next-door also suffered water damage.

“All my neighbours came out last night,” said John Scott, who lives on Lennox Drive. “They were great. They all brought their shop vacs and we took out probably six inches of water in the basement.”

Scott said he had just renovated the basement a few years ago.

“This water…is considered contaminated, so anything it touches in the basement is considered contaminated,” he said.

The gushing water also moved Scott’s deck. It also flowed down toward homes on Lumsden Crescent, causing flooding in some homes and sheds.

Scott estimated there is between $30,000 and $50,000 damage to his home.

“Generally homeowners insurance looks after that,” said Campbell. “But the person we send out to meet with them makes sure people get pointed in the right direction and file their claims properly.”