In Roxboro, no homes were flooded but the damage was already done after a massive water main break on 15th Street.
The burst forced blue collar workers to shut off the drinking water for dozens of residents around 12:30 a.m. Friday. Crews didn’t return to the scene to try and find the source of the break until the afternoon.
READ MORE: Water main break forces partial closure of de la Gauchetière Street
“Well it’s a little frustrating because they told us a crew was going to be here at 7 o’clock this morning,” Diane Martel, who has lived on the streets for decades, told Global News.
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Martel complains water main breaks are a common occurrence but little is done to fix them.
“Since I lived here they haven’t done anything,” she said.
René Champagne also had to live without drinking water since just after midnight. He said borough officials did nothing to inform residents in the area that water would be cut for hours.
“In circumstances like this it was be nice to see somebody from our elected officials to say hello and give some support by either knocking on our doors and saying ‘I’m aware of it. City crews are doing the best they can,'” he said.
“At least show some response to the event.”
READ MORE: Water main break closes section of Pierrefonds Boulevard
Pierrefonds-Roxboro borough Mayor Jim Beis says bottled water is distributed 48 hours after municipal drinking water is shut off.
Beis can’t say when the water pipes on the street will be replaced. He added a lot of the infrastructure in that district of the borough is very old.
“We’ve spent a significant amount of funds to repair and roads and infrastructure in Roxboro,” he said. “You have to understand Roxboro is a 100-year-old community.”
“A lot of the infrastructure has been replaced but there is still a lot of work to do.”
Residents hope the water mains will be replaced before the next break occurs.
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