Water main break causes flooding on roads, sidewalks in Kanata

Roads and sidewalks were temporarily flooded in Kanata’s Glen Cairn neighbourhood Monday morning following a major water main break.

A video sent to CTV News Ottawa showed water spewing from a pipe on Hazeldean Road, with water flooding the parking lot of the Van Leeuwen Centre. Other photos on social media showed water flooding nearby residential streets.

BMO closed its doors for the day and Plato’s Closet saw water filling the crawl space under the store.

“We have someone coming to pump that but it’s pretty dark down there and it’s quite a bit of water,” Carina Ghattas, Plato’s Closet’s assistant manager, said.

“It just kept getting worse and worse. We were moving boxes to the back of our store,” Kaitlin Liuzzo, Jiffy Photo and Print assistant manager, said. “We were moving any electrical stuff up on the floor.”

The City of Ottawa said the watermain break occurred on Hazeldean Road at Carbrooke Street Monday morning.

“City staff are onsite investigating the extent of the damage and determining next steps, including a timeline for repair,” the city said in a statement to CTV News Ottawa.

“Residents may have experienced a brief loss of water pressure due to impacts of the initial break and we are actively working on mitigating traffic impacts in the area.”

Construction crews were on scene Monday afternoon to repair the road and the water main.

The city said four properties in the area had their water service interrupted following the water main break, and all properties are expected to be fully restored on Tuesday.

“The safety and well-being of our residents and businesses is our top priority and we appreciate our residents’ patience and understanding,” the city said.

“Crews are working diligently to mitigate impacts as much as possible and we will keep residents and businesses informed once the repair is complete.”

Kanata Coun. Allan Hubley said the priority is to “get the water stopped.”

“There’s all kinds of things that can cause surge and pressure. Things like that can happen, that pipe behind us it’s probably 40 years old,” Hubley said.

With files from CTV News Ottawa’s Katelyn Wilson