Dear Editor: I would like to respond to Jeremy Shepherd's, Aug. 4 story, NV Water Main Break Damages 5 Homes. I am one of the homes on the south side of Braemar Road that sustained extensive damage due to the flood waters caused by the break in the water main.
I would first like to thank all our friends and neighbours that came to the rescue of our home on Braemar Road on July 29 after the water main broke on St. Marys Avenue. If it was not for your initiative, quick thinking, action, kindness, help and support the damage to our home would have been much worse. You are all an amazing group of people and we can't thank you enough.
At this time the District of North Vancouver does not know why this happened. However, it was not mentioned in your story that on the same day as the water main break, the district was working on pipes under the road surface at the bottom of St. Marys Avenue near the site of the pipe break. A neighbour overheard workers that afternoon comment on a water issue and that they were not sure where extra water was coming from. She approached them and was assured there was not a problem.
Three hours later the water main broke and several houses and yards were flooded. At the corner of St. Marys and Balmoral Street is a construction site where a large private home is being built. On the property sits a very large excavator that has been used on this job site for a long period of time. Putting these events together makes me think that maybe there is an explanation behind why this pipe broke. Before the flood waters had even stopped running around and through my house, a note was put on our door by district staff explaining how the district was not responsible for any damage on personal property. The timing of this note was in poor taste.
Your story states that Braemar Road was cleaned up beautifully by the next day. The part of Braemar in front of my home was not cleaned up. The two drains on the road were still plugged with debris, and dry mud was still two feet up on my rock wall, and the sidewalk was covered in mud, rocks and other debris left by the flood. Three days after the flood, this area remained the same.
I will finish by again thanking our neighbours and friends. Without your help who knows what could have been the end result for our home.
Susan Keast
North Vancouver
