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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Gas leak forces evacuations
Construction irks businesses
RUTH.BONNEVILLE@FREEPRESS.MB.CA Enlarge Image
Hydro workers scramble to fix the natural gas leak on McPhillips Street and Jarvis Avenue on Monday afternoon.
A gas leak on McPhillips Street on Monday afternoon caused traffic backlogs and forced the evacuation of business, including McPhillips Street Station Casino.
It was the latest pain in the neck for merchants as roadwork in the area continues to drag on... and on and on.
McPhillips Street casino staff get into a city bus after evacuation ordered. (TREVOR HAGAN / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)
Emergency crews were called to McPhillips and Jarvis Avenue around 2:45 p.m. to fix a ruptured gas main. As a result, portions of McPhillips, Jarvis and Logan Avenue were closed for nearly three hours and businesses and a few homes evacuated.
The casino was closed until today.
Manitoba Hydro spokesman Glenn Schneider said the line was ruptured by a crew working on the roads.
"The pavement company in the course of doing their work struck a gas main," he said. "The gas can migrate underground. There's concern with gas buildup in the buildings."
Hundreds of customers and staff were sent home from the casino, Manitoba Lotteries Corporation spokeswoman Susan Olynik said.
"This is the first time that I recall an incident of this kind impacting either casino," she said. "I don't believe we've ever evacuated the casino."
Bert Gilfix, owner of battery wholesaler and retailer G & S Distributors on McPhillips, ignored the evacuation warning. The rest of his staff left the building but Gilfix remained, unfazed.
"I got lots of work to do," he said.
Gilfix said a day without customers is nothing new, since construction on McPhillips has hurt business for some time. "All us business guys on this street lost 20 to 40 per cent of our business because who would come down a street like this?" he said. "We've been affected for almost two years now and nobody seems to want to do anything about it."
Crews were able to clamp the gas leak around 5:30 p.m., and most traffic lanes were reopened. But for businesses on McPhillips, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.
"Local businesses are fit to be tied," Gilfix said.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 22, 2010 A2
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