Thai Grill shutting down following massive flood

A well-known restaurant on the Main is closing for good, with the owners saying the cost of rebuilding after damage caused by the city is too high.

Thai Grill was one of several buildings flooded when city workers hit a 40-cm (16") pipe in the early hours of March 3, 2015.

Frederic Pichette said the amount of water that spewed from the water main was unbelievable.

"When I way we got a tsunami over the building over the restaurant I'm not exaggerating at all," said Pichette.

"It was crazy. The water goes through the second floor, even through the roof, for two hours. Two full hours the water came."

Pichette is angry because for $40,000 a year in taxes he figures the least he deserves is a proper response.

"No one from the city came or called me to apologize or to explain to me what happened. This is insane," said Pichette.

Glenn Castanheira works for Projet Montreal, the party in power in the Plateau borough.

He said there is no policy in place to help small businesses in these situations.

"The borough has no power. Plateau and any other borough in Montreal has no power. All they can do is refer to the central city which itself has no other mechanism other than legal measures," said Castanheira.

The owners of Thai Grill have just launched a lawsuit against the city of Montreal for damages.

"It doesn't make sense, when you close for a long period of time your clients are gone basically," said Pichette.

He said his business is ruined, and given the length of time it will take to rebuild it is not worth the effort.