Burst Water Main Floods Montreal Lubavitch Community

Over a thousand homes are without water this morning in Montreal after a water main on the corner of Westbury and Barclay Sts. burst, forcing four homes to be evacuated and flooding many basements.

On Barclay, six residents living in basement apartments were forced out of their homes and firemen spent the early morning pumping water out of the apartments. Many Lubavitch families live on Westbury between Barclay and Vezina, and at least one basement was damaged. “Apparently a water main broke and the water really really was attracted to my basement,” said one Lubavitch resident, who was woken by the sound of the sirens and found major damage in his basement.

“At 5:00 AM there was a noise like you never heard,” said Naomi, another Lubavitch resident. “You know you don’t realize how much you need water until you don’t have it. I have six kids and we had to use wipes to wash our hands.”

Other residents were luckier. “My driveway is on a slant, going uphill so the water didn’t go up my driveway,” said Levi. “Boruch Hashem there was no damage at all to my home.”

Initially, Westbury between Barclay and Vezina was closed, but the fire department worked quickly to clean up that area, and it was reopened in time for the parents to drop off their children at Beis Rivkah (on the Vezina side) and Yeshiva (on the Barclay side) without too much traffic. Barclay between Lemieux and Westbury is still closed and traffic is being rerouted through Carlton.

It is expected to take the entire day for the fire department to excavate, find the source of the damage, and repair it.

“A disaster like this shows you the power of Hashem,” said Naomi. “With all this modern technology, only he can make water and stop water.”