Hydrant collision causes flood, washout & water outage: City reminds drivers to obey barricades, avoid flooded streets

City crews will continue to work on an emergency water main break at 60th Street and Millar Avenue, which appears to have been caused by a vehicle colliding with a fire hydrant Tuesday afternoon, July 5, 2022. 

“When the hydrant was sheared off, it caused significant flooding at the intersection which undermined the roadway and water pipes,” says Pam Hamoline, Interim Director of Saskatoon Water. “Once we can excavate the road surface and get down to the pipe, we will know more about whether the water main was also damaged from the collision.” 

The break and flood, which happened shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday, caused a water outage for the Provincial Correctional Centre and several businesses near the intersection. City staff worked quickly to provide an emergency water supply to the Correctional Centre and had water service restored around 8 p.m that night. Currently, those addresses are under a Drinking Water Advisory. 

Several vehicles were captured on video shared from passersby on social media driving through the flooded area and one car became stuck in the cratered roadway. 

Hamoline also reminds drivers to respect work zones: obey all barricades and do not drive around them. Overnight, another truck ignored barriers and became stuck in the washout crater. Fortunately, there was no spill of fuel or other environmental concerns. 

“We can’t stress enough that when people see a roadway flooded out, they should not drive through,” Hamoline says. “There may be, and quite often there are, hazards and unsafe conditions they cannot see – as was the case with this incident. Barriers are there to keep everyone safe – residents and workers -- to avoid injuries, further costly damage to property and City infrastructure.” 

As crews continue repair work the intersection will remain closed and a detour will be in place. 

More info at Respect Work Zones.