A few District of North Vancouver residents say the municipality left them high and dry after they were hit with two floods in two weeks.
A 1975-era asbestos cement water main burst on Brockton Crescent near Beaufort Road July 16, sending a torrent down steep driveways and into basements, according to Hannah Johnson.
Johnson said she tried to unclog debris-choked drains and pile bricks atop her basement stairs in an ultimately futile attempt to channel the flood into her yard before wading into her basement to rescue books and keepsakes.
It was approximately 30 minutes before the water was switched off, Johnson said. Six homes were damaged and approximately 45 centimetres of water gurgled into Johnson’s basement, ruining her carpets, hot water tank, furnace, washer and dryer, as well as the family photo albums she couldn’t save.
District crews repaired a section of the damaged pipe and placed the water main on the priority list for replacement, according to District of North Vancouver spokeswoman Stephanie Smiley.
The district was gambling the water main wouldn’t burst again, said neighbour Cristina Arnold, who called the repair a “temporary fix.”
Johnson also questioned the decision to replace a segment of the pipe rather than the entire 43-year-old asbestos cement water main. However, district crews followed standard procedure, according to Smiley. The district replaces infrastructure based on several factors including age, the fragility of the material, and “the number of breaks it has sustained over its lifespan,” Smiley stated in an email.
On Tuesday, only hours after a contractor measured Arnold’s basement for new drywall, a different section of the same pipe spewed another stream of water.
A neighbour’s recently placed sod and soil were swept up in the flood, turning the water dark and murky and giving it a smell, “like sewage,” Arnold said.
“It’s just been a lot of trauma and a lot of expense,” Johnson said, noting she’d just replaced her washer, dryer, furnace and hot water tank, all of which “are now written off again.”
Because of the double break, workers are expected to begin replacing the water main on Tuesday, according to Smiley.
Besides paying $2,000 in deductibles to her insurance company, Johnson said she’ll likely be out of pocket for another $1,500 or more to pay for her sump and drain tiles in addition to the hotel bill she racked up while her home was unlivable.
“We’ll certainly submit a claim to the district,” she said.
However, Smiley noted that municipalities are not liable for “damages caused by the routine breakdown of infrastructure.”
Both Johnson and Arnold expressed skepticism about the policy.
The municipality should at least reimburse residents for their insurance deductibles, according to Johnson, who noted her future premiums will likely be “astronomical.”
Arnold also asked for financial help, noting that losing one water main could be considered a misfortune but two seemed like carelessness.
“The first time perhaps you can forgive but the second time that’s the one that hit us hard,” she said. “Basically, when the water hits your property it becomes your problem, even though it’s flowing from their water main.”
While it took two floods to get to the top of the priority list, Arnold said she’s looking forward to seeing the replacement.
“We can’t have a third flood,” she said.
The district has about 55 kilometres of asbestos cement pipes, serving approximately 15 per cent of the municipality. The district is working to replace five kilometres per year.
