A predawn water main break on De Lorimier Avenue in Montreal’s Ville-Marie district caused major traffic delays Friday morning.
Water flooded down De Lorimier between Ontario and Rouen Street. De Lorimier is a major artery into the city from the South Shore off of the Jacques Cartier bridge.
“It’s a main water pipe, so we will have to first lower down the pressure, excavate. We will locate exactly what is the cause and then we’ll fix it,” says Montreal Public Works spokesperson Philippe Sabourin.
Sabourin says age and cold weather are likely the cause of the break, noting that water pipes in the area are approximately 100 years old.
As the cleanup and repair gets underway, main valves in the area have been shut off and traffic has been diverted.
As a preventive measure, the city of Montreal has issued a boil water advisory for the Ville-Marie borough.
Residents are asked to boil their water for at least one minute before use.
No significant basement flooding has been reported, according to Sabourin.
Sabourin says it will be days before traffic in the area returns to normal as workers will need to tear up the street to locate and repair the broken pipe.
–With files from Global News’ Brayden Jagger Haines