Flood Services Canada, the Greater Toronto Area’s leading 24-hour emergency flood, fire, and smoke damage restoration response service team, is weighing in on the extreme cold weather oflast monthand how it caused more instances than normal of burst pipelines, which can lead to severe water damage.
“It was really, really cold,” says Chad Vanvari, owner of Flood Services Canada. “We’ve beenincredibly busy during the last few weeks just trying to keep up with the number of burst pipelines and water main breaks that have been occurring throughout the GTA.”
Vanvariexplains that it’s been a combination of the extreme cold weather and the GTAhavingolder pipelines that has lead to many of the problems they’ve been dealing with.
In addition, the weather has left many Toronto residents without water for days at a time. According to Toronto Water General Manager LouDi, the city has received 10 times the amount of “no water” calls than they are accustomed to, which has led to slow responses—and sometimes none—as residents find ways to deal with having no running water in their home for long stretches of time. (Source: Keenan, E., “Dry pipesarebad enough — a useless information pipeline makes it worse: Keenan,” The Toronto Star, February 24, 2015; http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/02/24/dry-pipes-are-bad-enough-a-useless-information-pipeline-makes-it-worse-keenan.html.)
Vanvariobserves that as a result, many residents have worked together with theirneighboursor found other creative ways to at least clean themselves or flush their toilets. For instance, some residents filled their bathtubs with snow, while others joined gyms so they could shower.
“It’s unfair to residents to have to go even one day without running water,” he adds. “It’s why we strongly focus on responding quickly to any calls we receive and work efficiently to fix any water damage so that families can go back to living their day-to-day lives.”
“Dealing with burst or frozen pipelinesiswhat Flood Services Canada does best,” Vanvari concludes. “If you’re still going through any water damage problems or ever have an instance where your pipes are frozen, give us a call and we’ll be there to help get you through it.”
