Most of B.C. set temperature records over the weekend and some took advantage by skating on frozen ponds or watching California sea lions frolic near a thin layer of ice in Coal Harbour.
However, others were forced to deal with a much more damaging side effect of the extreme cold — burst pipes.
David Dales, assistant chief of operations with Nanaimo Fire and Rescue Services told Global News Monday that an extra 16 calls out of 120 were directly related to frozen pipes.
“It’s super upsetting to see people having pipes break, flooding,” he said. “Our crews always help with stopping the flooding, help putting out tarps and stuff.
“But it was an increase of about 20 per cent to our overall call volume this weekend, which was a lot.”
Dales said crews were pretty overwhelmed by the call volume.
“Our big recommendation is know where your water shutoff is,” he added. “Especially in a residential environment. If you know where your water shutoff is, if a pipe does break and you’re able to shut it off, it will minimize on damage.”
In West Vancouver, Fresh Bay Pizza was forced to close for the first time in 14 years after a pipe burst in the sprinkler system of the residential unit above.
“It’s a big damage. Even though you say there is insurance, nobody gives you anything beforehand,” the owner Omid Pajouhi said.
It was a busy weekend for crews in other areas as well.
Twenty-four condo units in Surrey were affected by a burst pipe.
At least two residents of Surrey Carelife Fleetwood long-term care home were temporarily moved after the bitter cold caused heating fan coils to malfunction, leading to water leaks in some ceilings.
Burst pipes also resulted in water damage.
Mission Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department was forced to temporarily divert patients due to a flood Saturday evening.
BC Cancer also said a broken water line caused damage to its building and it is working with patients to alter or reschedule appointments.
At Vancouver’s International Airport on Friday, a pipe burst in the domestic terminal, leading to soaked chairs and wet floors.
BC Ferries didn’t escape either after a water pipe burst Sunday afternoon on the Queen of Cowichan car deck.
It caused a 40-minute delay en route to Departure Bay.
In the Lower Mainland, local restoration companies are being flooded with emergency calls.
“We’re responding to as many 10 floods a day, so we’re just kind of overwhelmed by the amount of projects we’re taking on,” Brett Bannon with Incredible Restorations said Monday.
People with burst pipes are asked to do what they can themselves to mitigate the damage and start a claim with their insurance companies as soon as possible.
Bannon said with the extreme changes in weather appearing to become the new normal, it might be time for British Columbia to change the building codes.
“Maybe changing the codes for insulating pipes, that should be the nail in the coffin to stop a lot of these pipes from freezing over and seeing a lot of these 100, 200, 500-thousand-dollar water claims.”
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