Advertisement

Calgary water main breaks flood city streets

Click to play video: 'Thawing pattern causes pipes to burst'
Thawing pattern causes pipes to burst
WATCH ABOVE: While the warm weather is a welcome reprieve from the deep freeze it's causing major problems for pipes. Dozens of residents are without water as crews scramble to repair a major water line break. Jill Croteau reports – Dec 20, 2016

Calgary firefighters were kept busy on Tuesday responding to water main breaks in the city’s north.

The first happened in the area of 8 Avenue and 15 Street N.W., near North Hill Centre, just before 7 a.m.

According to the City of Calgary, a 25-centimetre pipe burst, causing water to gush out onto the road. The flooding caused the street to buckle, leading police to close off the intersection.

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.

Get daily National news

Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.

City officials brought in emergency water wagons to serve about 20 homes and eight apartment buildings.

According to the city, repairing a water main break can take a day or two to complete.

The second water main break occurred in the 1300 block of 23 Street N.W. at around 9:30 a.m.

Story continues below advertisement

“We received a call from a neighbour here in Briar Hill that water was coming out of a home,” Carol Henke with the Calgary Fire Department said.

No one was at home when firefighters arrived. Firefighters had to force their way into the house as there was close to a foot of water pooling in the basement.

“It appears that the furnace stopped working for some reason, causing pipes to freeze,” Henke said. “Now that it’s warmed up a little bit those pipes are now leaking substantial water into the home.”

With files from Doug Vaessen

Sponsored content

AdChoices