A water main break caused problems in downtown Winnipeg Friday morning, flooding streets and part of the underground parkades at Portage Place and Place Promenade.
Crews were on scene working to fix the break at Ellice Avenue near Vaughan Street.
Cars driving in the lower level of the Portage Place parkade had to plow through water, which flowed for more than five hours.
Police blocked off a nearby section of Ellice Avenue that had water flowing over it. A section of Ellice remained closed to traffic for hours while crews worked.
The break also created problems for nearby businesses.
Staff said the Royal Plaza hostel, behind Portage Place, had water flowing into it.
"In my electrical room, there was almost eight or nine inches of water was visible...the water was coming from outside into the building," said Ashwani Nagpal.
"We tried to call the city to turn off the water...and they said it will take us two days to reply back. You can put your complaint today and it takes two days to answer back," said Nagpal.
Now with no hot water for the building and guests already checking out, he's worried how it will affect his business in the long run.
The Forks North Portage Partnership operates the Portage Place and Place Promenade parking lots and said if anyone suffered damage to vehicles from water, they will deal with it on a case-by-case basis.
