‘It was soaked’: broken valve leads to flooding and power outages at CityPlace building
CBC News  Toronto
By Kate McGillivray
02 October 2017

Resident Patrick Marois filmed as water seeped in under his door and filled the hallway outside his unit at 21 Iceboat Terrace.   (CBC)

A broken valve at a CityPlace condo building led to flooding, electricity outages, and disabled elevators on Monday.

Nicole Harvey, who lives on the eighth floor of 21 Iceboat Terrace, says that when she left for work on Monday morning, various hallway floors were soaking wet and that only one elevator in the building is functional.

"The floors are completely covered in water," she said. "I went down to [floor] seven today… it was soaked."

Power was also out for some residents, but has since been restored.

Resident Patrick Marois was woken by a neighbour pounding on his door to warn him about the flooding. He then filmed his middle-of-the-night race to deal with the water seeping under his door.

We'll have to remove everything," he told CBC Toronto on Monday afternoon, pointing at the floor. "Otherwise we'll have mould."

A flooded hallway at 21 Iceboat Terrace. Residents say that the flooding began in the early hours of Monday morning.   (Jessica Lemieux)

Resident Jatin Mehta's condo was also flooded.

"I've been staying at the guest suite, so that was kind of management," he said. 

21 Iceboat's property management team released a statement on Facebook through the account of a member of their security team that said the flood originated with a "pressure valve that did not hold," adding that electricians have been working since 2 a.m. to dry a transformer and restore power.

The statement also advised residents to use the bridge on the 32nd floor of the building to walk to neighbouring 15 Iceboat Terrace and take the elevator down.

Communication frustration
Some residents expressed frustration about the lack of communication on Monday morning about what was happening. 

19th floor resident Neil Inglis said that his only answers had come from the Facebook post that went up through the building employee's account, though, since the post did not identify itself as coming from management, he was unsure of its origins.

"Somebody did post some official looking note, I don't know where they got it," he said.

CBC Toronto later confirmed that it was written by property management.

Harvey says that it was difficult to find answers from management overnight and in the morning, despite calls to security and a visit to the property management office.

"No one would give us any clarity," she said. "They don't explain anything, they leave us in the dark."


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