'Not super happy': Winnipeg resident frustrated with city's handling of cement leak more than a year later

More than a year after cement started flowing in Kaitlin Bialek’s basement, she said she is still dealing with the aftermath of the incident.

On May 29, 2021, cement leaked into several homes along Semple Avenue through the sewer system.

The city said at the time, a new land drainage sewer trunk shaft was being constructed in the area and there was a breach of the combined sewer when grout was being poured.

This caused the grout to enter the sewer system of some homes on the street. The city said in total, 12 homes were affected.

Bialek said her house is almost done being repaired, but she is frustrated as she is having to pay her insurance deductible now, despite this being caused by a contractor hired by the city.

“We feel that the city should be owning up and paying our insurance directly for that deductible. Why should we be out of pocket for that?” Bialek asked.

She said she has been in contact with many people working with the city and hasn’t got anywhere to improve the situation.

“The few people we have talked to in the claims department at the city weren’t very helpful. They were basically telling us just to submit receipts, which we don’t have receipts for, and why should we? It’s our insurance company that has now taken over, which it never should have had to have. The city should have stepped in with their insurance and covered the damages.”

On top of being stuck paying the deductible, Bialek said they just renewed their insurance and their premiums have gone up as well.

“Not super happy because it wasn’t anything we could have done to prevent this from happening to our home. There wasn’t any sort of backwater valve or piece in our home that we could have done to prevent the cement from coming in. It was coming in regardless.”

A spokesperson for the city said when something like this happens, homeowners are told to submit repair quotes to their insurer.

“Those quotes are then submitted to the City’s project liability insurer either directly, or through the adjuster representing the claimant’s property insurer,” the spokesperson said in an email to CTV News.

“The final amount covered through property insurance is a matter to be discussed between the property owner and their insurers, as it is ultimately up to their insurers to decide to exercise their right to recovery from the City’s project liability insurers. Any uninsured losses, including deductibles, may also be submitted to our project insurer for review.”

The problem doesn’t just pertain to inside Bialek’s home; she noted some problems have popped up on the street that the city has yet to fix.

“There’s a big sinkhole. They excavated this entire boulevard last fall in order to look for the leak. When they did that, they backfilled it and put sod on top, but I guess they didn’t backfill it enough. So now there are holes.

“Then on the road, when they did a sewer repair for one of the homes, they had to cut out a section of the road and when they filled it with cement, they filled it too high. So now, there’s a big hump in the road.”

She said she just wants the city to finish what they started and put the street back to the way it was.

“Through this whole thing, the city has not really been there for us,” she said. “I feel like our city is very broken. This is just one of the issues in our city right now that’s going…it shouldn’t be so hard for a resident to get a simple hole in the boulevard fixed, the road fixed. It shouldn’t be so difficult.”

A second spokesperson for the city said all work along Semple has been completed, except for some work needed between Main Street and McKenzie Street.

“The area of Semple Avenue between Main Street and Scotia Street, where the homeowners were impacted with cement, had its last inspection a few months ago. At that time, there were no distinguishable sinkholes or humps observed on the roadway,” the spokesperson said in an email to CTV News.

“It is possible that, with the amount of rainfall that we have had, that new road issues might have emerged. The City’s Water and Waste Department has dispatched someone to inspect the roadway condition on Semple Avenue, between Main Street and Scotia Street and determine if any additional work is needed.”