City gets to the bottom of how deep hole formed in boulevard

A Winnipeg woman’s fall into a deep hole in a boulevard Saturday night marked a first in the city’s recent history, sparking an investigation to determine its cause and prevent it from being repeated.

Christine Keilback told the Free Press she was on her way home from a movie when she suddenly fell shoulders-deep into the hole across the street from her Wolseley home.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service came to the rescue and helped her return to solid ground. The city placed barricades around the large hole.

On Tuesday, Mayor Scott Gillingham said this is the only such incident he’s aware of since being elected to city council in 2014 as St. James councillor. He was elected mayor in 2022.

In an email, city spokeswoman Lisa Marquardson said there are no records of a similar situation taking place in Winnipeg “in recent memory.”

The city expects to begin permanent repairs at the site on Thursday, Marquardson wrote.

While city officials initially told reporters the hole was believed to be a catch basin that was missing a manhole cover, further investigation determined a different problem.

“We … found that it was actually a previously removed catch basin and lead,” wrote Marquardson.

A catch basin lead is the pipe that connects the basin to a storm sewer manhole or larger main sewer line, she noted.

After a former catch basin was removed, the area was backfilled with gravel and covered with sod but the pipe was not capped, which appears to have allowed the filled material to shift away over time, said Marquardson.

The city found a second catch basin on the other side of the road to be in a similar condition and blocked access to it as well.

“Both locations have been secured and made safe. We are working to make immediate repairs to the area … We will investigate this issue further so that we can take steps to prevent this from happening again,” wrote Marquardson.

Gillingham urged residents to promptly report any safety issues they spot.

“If you see a manhole cover missing, if you see a drain in the street that’s broken and needs repair or replacement, please send that information into 311 so we can get our crews out there,” he said. “I know our staff inspected the area around to make sure that there (were) no other maintenance issues.”

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

X : @joyanne_pursaga