A section of Main Street looked more like a river channel Sunday morning following a water main break in the area of Wade Avenue.
Early Sunday afternoon city public works crews were still using two large pumps to siphon water from a gaping fissure on the west side of the intersection.
That portion of Wade between Main and Martin streets is expected to remain closed to traffic for an indefinite period.
“There’s two big water mains crossing there, an eight inch and an 18 inch and there’s one that’s broken but we’re not sure yet which one,” said Len Robson, public works manager who was was in Kelowna when notified of the break. “We got the call around 10 o’clock and we had the water shut off about 11:40 a.m. It was a big deal to shut this one off because we had to go all the way up Wade Avenue to Government Street and turn off all the laterals on the sides. That’s isolated and the 300-block of Main Street is out of water right now.”
At the height of the break a torrent of the muddy liquid traveled along the surface of Wade, to Martin Street and as far north as Nanaimo Avenue.
According to Robson, so far the only structure known to have been flooded was the Penticton City Centre building which houses the ground-floor offices of CIBC Wood Gundy and several other professional firms.
Restoration crews were already on the scene but the exact damage was undetermined.
“We’re hopeful we can figure out what’s going on and get everybody back in water and fix the problem,” said Robson. “We have to be careful around there because when the water comes out with that much force it erodes everything under the road so we’ll be busting this all up.
“I can’t tell you how long this is going to take, it might be an easy fix but I doubt it.”
