Boil water alert lifted after water main break on Wednesday

The crater left by the broken pipe on Roland-Therrien Blvd. in Longueuil.

UPDATED: On Friday afternoon a boil water advisory was lifted for Vieux-Longueuil, St-Hubert, Boucherville and St-Bruno-de-Montarville. An advisory still stands for the Carignan-sur-le-Golf sector of Longueuil. The warnings were issued after Wednesday's break on Roland-Therrien Blvd. Tests on Friday confirmed that the water was fit for consumption.

MONTREAL—A broken water main flooded more than a dozen homes on Roland-Therrien Blvd. in Longueuil on Wednesday morning.

According to the Longueuil police, the main broke at around 4:38 a.m., sending a spectacular plume of water up from the centre of the otherwise busy street. The torrent along the street was more than 30 cm deep at 7:00 a.m.

“We don’t know what caused this,” said Longueuil spokesman Jacques Tetrault about the broken 30-year-old pipe. “It’s a young street, only 30-years-old, and there was no construction work around. So we have no clue about what happened.”

The water main which cracked on the street was a pipe used to feed water to smaller communities on the south shore surrounding Longueuil—an explanation for the powerful flow of water. While crews from public works, the Longueuil fire department and Hydro Quebec are at the scene, the water was flowing hours after the break.

According to the City of Longueuil, water crews had to slowly divert water away from the main out of fears of breaking other pipes due to a sudden change of pressure. The flow of water was finally stopped almost six hours after the break.

While no evacuation orders were issued, the garages and basements of 15 homes were flooded. The broken pipe left a crater nearly 20 feet across in the road.

Police are asking drivers to avoid the area between Robervale St. and Toulouse St.