A burst water main sent water flowing into the basements of three homes in Burnaby in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The Burnaby Fire Department got a call at 12:35 a.m. from a resident on Dominion Street near Gilmore Avenue saying water was flowing into their basement, according to assistant fire Chief Stewart Colbourne.
One fire truck responded and found water from a broken main was getting into two houses on Dominion Street and one on Manor Street
“We basically stabilized the scene because there was starting to get some erosion with so much water,” Colbourne said.
City crews arrived at the scene at about 1:15 a.m. and shut the water down by about 2 a.m., according to Colbourne.
“It was a couple of hours where the water was flowing with the broken main,” he said. “Because it’s on a grid system, they have to isolate it and shut it down, so it’s usually two or three different spots to close valves to keep the water flowing to other areas.”
Colbourne didn’t how many residents had been left without water as a result of the shut down or if anyone was displaced from their home as a result of the flooding.
"We are sorry to hear that several residents’ homes were flooded overnight due to a water main break near Gilmore Avenue and Dominion Street," City of Burnaby spokesperson Chris Bryan said in an email.
City crews shut the water off "as quickly as possible" after learning of the break, he said.
The city was already working to replace water mains in the area after a recent break, according to Bryan. The replacement is expected to be complete in 2020, he said.
