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.
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.
“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