Winnipeg woman ‘still very shaken’ after north Main Street water main break in freezing cold

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Jacqueline Stortz and her aunt are still recuperating after the van they were in broke down as a water main break swept a swath of Winnipeg’s Main Street on Friday afternoon, she says.

Crews working on new underground piping at the North End Sewage Treatment Plant accidentally damaged a water main that resulted in localized flooding along Main Street near Chief Peguis Trail, the city said Friday.

Main Street was closed in both directions between Seaforth Avenue and Chief Peguis Trail until late Friday night.

Stortz, 43, says she and her aunt were headed south on Main Street around 4 p.m. Friday when traffic started to slow. They were frustrated and confused, before they began to notice water building on the street, she said.

But traffic kept moving, Stortz says, including the semi-trailer directly behind her aunt’s van.

“We had no choice but to continue going forward,” she said. “There was so much water. It was so deep [that] it went into the vehicle and killed my auntie’s van.”

The water didn’t enter the van but much of it was submerged, and they eventually called 911, she said.

“We’re freezing, we’re crying, we’re cold — not knowing what’s going to happen,” she said.

“There was nothing we could do. We were just stuck. We were dead in the water, and basically kind of being pushed a little bit as vehicles were going by. “

Jacqueline Stortz, left, and her aunt, Sharon Kristjanson, got caught up in the water main break Friday. (Submitted by Jacqueline Stortz)

They waited nearly an hour before two firefighters came and pushed Stortz’s aunt’s vehicle into a shallow patch of water, she said.

Stortz got emotional while talking about how thankful she is to the emergency responders who helped carry their Christmas hampers out of the vehicle and into an ambulance.

“They helped us into the ambulance and, you know, just the way they treated us and talked to us and the fact that they didn’t have to, but they brought all our Christmas stuff into the ambulance and dropped us off at home.”

WATCH | Water main break floods Winnipeg Transit bus:

Water main break floods Winnipeg’s Main Street in sub-zero temperatures

A water main break in north Winnipeg on Friday evening flooded a section of Main Street with knee-deep water as temperatures outside dropped below –20.

On Saturday, Stortz said she was still stiff and sore from sitting in the cold.

“We’re still very shaken. It was a very traumatic event.”

North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty says it was “an alarming amount of water” to deal with as temperatures dropped to around –20 on Friday.

“And during rush hour on a Friday afternoon, it’s the last thing people want,” he told CBC News on Saturday. “Traffic this week has been bad enough, [with] some of the first major snowfalls of the winter.”

He’s heard “a lot of frustration” from people who were impacted by the water, including some concerns that Main Street wasn’t closed to motorists quickly enough.

“Was it closed fast enough? That’s something I want to go back and review,” Browaty said.

North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty says he wants the city to look into who was responsible for the water main break. (Gary Solilak/CBC)

“We’ll have to determine what the cause of this particular break was — was it the contractor’s fault? Will they be responsible for the cost of the cleanup, as well as the repair of the damaged feeder main?”

Browaty says it’s often difficult for workers to determine what will come out of a pipe that’s been underground and unopened for decades.

“Hopefully it is attributable to the work that was done and the contractor will be responsible, as opposed to water ratepayers.”

‘So scary’

Meanwhile, Stortz says her aunt is now without a vehicle.

Manitoba Public Insurance told Stortz’s aunt that she will be responsible for repair costs of her vehicle because she proceeded into the water, according to Stortz.

“My auntie is an elderly lady, she’s on disability,” she said. “She doesn’t have a lot of income coming in. She has a grandchild that she’s taking care of, and that vehicle is … her freedom.”

Stortz would also like to see the incident reviewed, she said.

“It was really upsetting, you know, that it wasn’t handled in a timely fashion and could have prevented this from happening,” she said.

“It was so scary.”