Sewer line break repaired in Kamloops
'It was gushing in a stream of liquid that was 2-feet wide'
Kamloops crews have finished cleaning up a stream of sewage that flooded part of a downtown street.
On the morning of Dec. 12, the city was notified that there was a sewer line break on the 800 block of Lorne Street. Crews were called into begin the repairs.
"The challenge that we had was you can't ever shut off the sewage," said Kamloops Public Works and Utilities director Jen Fretz.
"So, in order to get down and repair that line we had to basically use a truck parade and piping to get the sewer from one side of the break to the other."
The city is still unsure what cause the break, but the crack was found along the bottom of the pipe.
A stream '2-feet wide'
Inventory manager Kathleen Pye noticed the issue a few hours into her shift at the Riverside Small Animal Hospital. She saw fluid running down the street just beside the sidewalk.
"It was gushing in a stream of liquid that was two-feet wide."
At first, she wasn't sure it was sewage, but the smell tipped her off that it was more than just water.
"We, in the end, lit candles in our business, because the smell permeated all areas of our hospital, even though it's winter outside and all the doors were closed."
The staff at the animal hospital were still able to do their jobs, but they contacted patients to let them know that traffic was being rerouted to avoid the break.
City crews monitoring the situation
The Colombo Lodge, the Italian cultural centre in Kamloops, was also impacted by the break. It's located just up the street from where the break happened.
Lodge president Gary Comazzetto says some of the sewage was not contained and leaked into the basement of the building. Insurance agents, adjusters and the restoration people were called on site to assess the damage.
Some of the sewage also made it into the South Thompson River. The city doesn't have specific numbers on the volume, but Fretz says she believes it was minimal.
She says that's in part due to the short timeframe of the overflow and the colder temperatures that led to snow and ice partially blocking street drains.
The Ministry of Environment has been notified about the leak into the river.
The city finished fixing the pipe around 11 p.m. on Dec. 12 and were able to repair the road with gravel.
Repaving of the street will not be done until temperatures warm up.
City of Kamloops crews are monitoring the situation and preparing for future cleanup.
With files from Daybreak Kamloops
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