Beny Masella, the Mayor of Montreal West, told the town council in late August that the Town of Montreal West had not been authorized to deal with a pipe belonging to the City of Montreal, during or after the rains of July 13, which caused flooding throughout the entire island. However, the Town took steps to minimize the damages.
Masella explains the floods in Masella.
He said that the flooding caused basements to flood all over town, and also other problems not related to sewers. The staircase that connects Courtney Drive to Ronald Drive, for example was nearly destroyed.
Masella stated that on the 14th of July, “there was an extensive flood in Brock South near Broughton Avon.”
After the SPVM, our Public Works department and the Fire Department evaluated the extent of flooding and the speed, it became clear that the main was not a 4″ main but a 14″ City of Montreal main running along Broughton. Our contact number was immediately dialed and we requested that a Montreal Plumber be sent to shut the valves. The plumber refused to close the valves after arriving because his work was limited to pipes less than 10 inches.
Montreal’s Mayor has said that he delegated work to an external company specialized in this size pipe.
The water started to drain as Public Works, based on the volume of water that had accumulated on the block, broke protocol by shutting the valves in Montreal’s pipes. Public Works sent an entire contingent to the site on Friday morning in order to repair as many of the damages as possible.
Masella stated that Montreal West received a letter of support from Brock South’s residents and responded.
Montreal was clearly notified in the first message that it owned the pipe and would be responsible for its repair. On Tuesday, they had their contractor on site. The letter also said that our crews will continue to pick up garbage and recycle as usual, even if this means doing the pickups ourselves. Our confirmation was that special pickups would be conducted Townwide in order to eliminate large debris. “As soon as it had been repaired, the machine was sent to Brock and made several sweeps until there was no more silt.”
Masella said that the residents are angry because they think we have taken too long in acting, we could not close the pipe and we did not act quickly enough.
The reality is we weren’t authorized to interfere with Montreal’s system. The effects of shutting down a pipe that large are far beyond our Town. Variations in water pressure may have led to multiple leaks in Montreal West or Montreal, and possibly affected water quality (without being detected immediately). It is for this reason that there are protocols before such a pipe is closed. We waited for Montreal’s personnel to arrive on site to close the pipe. After waiting a few hours, we decided to take the risk and do it. This was a big risk.
Residents of the area “were furious with me personally, because I didn’t rush to site,” said Mayor.
While I had my basement flooded, I felt that my time would be better spent helping to coordinate communication and responses for our teams. Instead of making the politically easy decision, I made sure that our teams were equipped with the right tools to support the residents. The councillors Small-Pennefather and Feeney visited Brock South Tuesday, July 18, and they helped me and other members of the Montreal West Team to better understand the concerns and needs of our residents.
After the flood, we have been in touch with both the administrative and political teams of Montreal to make sure that any responses and actions that are required to be taken will be done quickly and safely to prevent future issues. Residents were told that they have 15 days to make a claim after the damages occurred. Montreal was also informed that the same will be done.
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