Broken water main dampens long weekend plans for residents in Kelowna apartment complex

Easter long weekend celebrations are off to a soggy start for some Kelowna residents whose apartment complex flooded when a city water main burst.

Water rushed into the parkade and lobby of a 32-unit apartment building near Highway 97 and Pandosy Street on Thursday morning after the break occurred.

Now, residents are knee-deep in a muddy cleanup that caused a lot of damage.

Among those who are watching water wreak havoc on their belongings is apartment resident Joan Darjes, who has lived in the building for 11 years.

“I didn’t realize how we’re downhill from Highway 97 until this happened,” she said.

Her Saturn SUV, like many of the vehicles, was flooded when water “like a river” rushed in and affected the vehicle’s electrical systems.

“Some (vehicles) are playing music, some of the lights are flashing and (in) my car the seat warmers are both on,” she said.

Owners have been advised to not start their vehicles. A fix is in the works, though.

“They’re coming in and towing them one at a time,” she said.

While she’s dealing with that, more inconvenience is expected tonight. She’s losing power until around 10 p.m., and some people are seeing their units go dark until next week.

1:58 Lake Country flooding was human error

Crystal Martin of Winmar Property Restoration said it will take a while to get things sorted.

“Today what we’re doing is pressure washing down in the mud and extracting the mud in the water and cleaning up as best we can,” she said. “And then once we’re done that, we will treat it all was an antimicrobial and then we’ll come in next week and do a deep clean on it.”

City crews were alerted to the water main break just after 4 a.m., on Thursday, at the corner of Water Street and Boyce Crescent.

According to the city, it’s a 250-millimetre (1o-inch) water main break.

“So right now they’re fixing the main line.  It’s a 300-diameter piece,” said Rod MacLean, utility planning manager with the City of Kelowna. “They’re going to replace it with PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride).

The city expects to have the repairs completed by the end of the day but added that restoration work will continue throughout the weekend.

“This pipe here is about 50, a little over 50 years old as far as we know,” said MacLean. “It might be a bit older as being cast iron.  These pipes can last anywhere from 75 to 100 years, so this particular spot, we haven’t really done an assessment yet on what exactly is the cause of the break.”