A municipal snowplow that accidentally struck a fire hydrant caused a water-main break early yesterday morning and icy roads on some downtown Halifax streets.
James Campbell of the Halifax Water Commission said the break happened at about 5 a.m. on the corner of Argyle and Prince streets with the impact causing the 15-inch water main below street level to rupture. Campbell said a municipal snowblower attached to a loader was what knocked over the hydrant.
The end result was water flowing out onto Argyle, Prince and several other streets for about two hours as municipal workers tried to get the water shut off. Not helping matters was the frigid morning temperatures froze the water almost immediately.
“Certainly, a lot of water came out, and water can be powerful when it comes out under pressure,” Campbell said. “It certainly undermined a good section of sidewalk as well as some of the roadways in the intersection area.
“But the crews were down there and they got it quickly cleaned up and salted.”
Prince from Barrington to Grafton streets, along with Argyle Street, was closed to traffic throughout the day yesterday as workers worked into the early evening to fix the broken pipe and get water back on for two businesses — The Wooden Monkey and St. Paul’s Parish House.
Campbell said workers also restored the intersection “as best as possible,” but added no asphalt is available in January for Nova Scotia, so paving wouldn’t be completed until sometime next month.
What a mess
Several downtown Halifax businesses also suffered flooding due to the water-main break, including The Press Gang restaurant on Prince Street, which decided to shut down for the day to do a proper cleanup.
