An uncovered manhole in a busy shopping district has left several vehicles damaged.
Amanda Berry was supposed to meet her mother at the Canadian Tire off Windermere Boulevard Friday night.
“She called me saying she was in an accident so I came over here to see what was going on and found her and two other people had their vehicles damaged,” Berry recalled.
Berry’s mother had driven into an open manhole, whose cover had been pushed off and dragged down the road after being hit repeatedly.
One car’s gas tank had been crushed after hitting the cover. Several others drove into the opening as Berry’s mother had.
“She’s quite angry,” said Berry. “Somebody could have been seriously injured in this.”
No one was injured. The incidents were reported to police and the City of Edmonton, who got in touch with EPCOR. Berry and others at the location used barricades from a nearby construction site to warn other drivers until EPCOR arrived.
EPCOR told CTV Edmonton that when its drainage operations were notified about the missing cover Friday night, they immediately sent out an emergency crew. The company said the crew fixed the manhole as well as they could, but knew the cover would come off again without more repairs.
EPCOR did put up barricades around the site Friday night. However, a crew working on a bus stop in the area didn’t realize why they were there and removed them. A crew from a nearby private construction project replaced the barricades. They also spray painted the manhole bright pink with a warning message on the street: “Damaged. No cars.”
“This type of incident is rare,” said EPCOR’s Tim le Riche. “Especially when you consider that there are tons of thousands of such manholes around the city.”
EPCOR will send a repair crew Monday to inspect it again and determine what else is needed.
With files from Amanda Anderson
