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Feb 4, 2008, 4:11 PM
Parkade flooding blamed on sewage station
By BILL POWER Staff Reporter
Mon. Feb 4 - 10:50 AM
A sewage pumping station was singled out Sunday as the culprit after a flood in the parkade of a downtown Halifax apartment building damaged cars for the second time in three weeks.
"You do not have to be an engineer to be able to look at the setup and see the potential for problems," Peninsula Place resident Karla Greek said after learning her brand new vehicle was probably a writeoff after the stinky flash flood on Saturday.
The mess occurred early Saturday in heavy rain. Many residents of the south Barrington Street building had just settled insurance claims and obtained replacement vehicles after a similar incident on Jan. 12.
About 20 vehicles appeared to be severely water-damaged this time. About 40 were damaged in the first flood.
The previous flood has also been attributed to the two-storey pumping station at the corner of Barrington and Inglis streets built recently as part of the Halifax Harbour cleanup.
Coun. Dawn Sloane (Halifax Downtown) said Sunday it is an "unfortunate situation" for the residents that must be fixed immediately.
"There is not any room for passing the buck here. This has to stop," the councillor said after touring the soaked parkade.
The councillor said it is clear the pumping station is the issue.
"Huge volumes of sewage and water have been flowing through pipes in that area for ages and since the pumping station was built, we suddenly have a problem," she said.
Mayor Peter Kelly also toured the flood scene on the weekend and promised to get the situation fixed as soon as possible.
A special meeting to discuss the pumping station was scheduled for city hall today. A staff report with a suggested remedy to the flooding is expected before council’s regular Tuesday meeting.
Some residents of the apartment building made a desperate scramble to rescue their vehicles from the flood after the alert was sounded at about 8 a.m. Saturday, Ms. Greek said.
She said she kicked on some clothes and headed to the basement parkade only to see her new car in thigh-high sewage water. A few people waded through the mess to try to remove their vehicles, but she said she was not about to try that.
"I had just gone through this drill a few weeks ago so I realized that the damage was done."
Some sewage water was hoisted to other levels of the building by an elevator that kept opening in the basement, Ms. Greek said.
"People were pressing the button for the elevator not realizing how bad the flood was. Flood water poured out when the elevator arrived and opened its door. It was a real mess."
( bpower@herald.ca)
By BILL POWER Staff Reporter
Mon. Feb 4 - 10:50 AM
A sewage pumping station was singled out Sunday as the culprit after a flood in the parkade of a downtown Halifax apartment building damaged cars for the second time in three weeks.
"You do not have to be an engineer to be able to look at the setup and see the potential for problems," Peninsula Place resident Karla Greek said after learning her brand new vehicle was probably a writeoff after the stinky flash flood on Saturday.
The mess occurred early Saturday in heavy rain. Many residents of the south Barrington Street building had just settled insurance claims and obtained replacement vehicles after a similar incident on Jan. 12.
About 20 vehicles appeared to be severely water-damaged this time. About 40 were damaged in the first flood.
The previous flood has also been attributed to the two-storey pumping station at the corner of Barrington and Inglis streets built recently as part of the Halifax Harbour cleanup.
Coun. Dawn Sloane (Halifax Downtown) said Sunday it is an "unfortunate situation" for the residents that must be fixed immediately.
"There is not any room for passing the buck here. This has to stop," the councillor said after touring the soaked parkade.
The councillor said it is clear the pumping station is the issue.
"Huge volumes of sewage and water have been flowing through pipes in that area for ages and since the pumping station was built, we suddenly have a problem," she said.
Mayor Peter Kelly also toured the flood scene on the weekend and promised to get the situation fixed as soon as possible.
A special meeting to discuss the pumping station was scheduled for city hall today. A staff report with a suggested remedy to the flooding is expected before council’s regular Tuesday meeting.
Some residents of the apartment building made a desperate scramble to rescue their vehicles from the flood after the alert was sounded at about 8 a.m. Saturday, Ms. Greek said.
She said she kicked on some clothes and headed to the basement parkade only to see her new car in thigh-high sewage water. A few people waded through the mess to try to remove their vehicles, but she said she was not about to try that.
"I had just gone through this drill a few weeks ago so I realized that the damage was done."
Some sewage water was hoisted to other levels of the building by an elevator that kept opening in the basement, Ms. Greek said.
"People were pressing the button for the elevator not realizing how bad the flood was. Flood water poured out when the elevator arrived and opened its door. It was a real mess."
( bpower@herald.ca)
