A watermain break at the corner of Andrew and Mississauga Streets has flooded the basements of some businesses for the second time in two years.
Business owner Carey Frantz says she thought the problems had been fixed after the first repair in 2013.
“I’m shocked actually,” she said. “It happened once before a few years ago and I didn't expect it to happen again.”
The watermain break in February of 2013 cost the city $100,000 to repair.
City officials say frost in the ground and cold temperatures have damaged old water pipes, causing them to break.
“The life expectancy of a watermain is typically 100 years,” said Ken Vanwyck with the City of Orillia. “If you’ve got that you're doing pretty well.”
He estimates that the watermains at Mississauga and Andrew are between 60 and 80 years old.
While city crews were looking for the leak, they happened across some old buried hydro wires as well.
“Fortunately they was dead,” said Vanwyck. “It caught our guys by surprise when they discovered the cables there.”
The Orillia Public Works department says the repair will be done by Tuesday, but they’re worried more pipe could break if we get more extreme cold temperatures.
