Mud and water cover the kitchen floor.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Raine Bouzane

When Vernon resident Raine Bouzane got up at 6 a.m., Dec. 27, to go to work he walked into his kitchen and found it covered in water.

Cold, icy, dirty water.

"The house was all frozen," Bouzane told iNFOnews.ca.

The kitchen floor was largely covered in about one inch of water, and the water had seeped into the carpets throughout much of the rest of his East Hill basement suite.

Raine said the water was muddy and cold but luckily didn't destroy any of his personal possessions.

"I'm glad at least it happened after Christmas so we didn't have anything going on and nothing got wrecked," he said.

A burst water main at 39 Avenue and Pleasant Valley Road had caused a torrent of water to run onto the property before penetrating the walls and doors.

"It almost froze our door shut completely," he said.

Raine thinks the water main pipe burst sometime in the early hours of the morning, Dec. 27.

With temperatures hovering at around -20 Celsius mark the water didn't take long to freeze.

After the water main burst ice quickly formed.

Image Credit: FACEBOOK: Raine Bouzane

Confirming the burst on social media, Vernon firefighters posted on Facebook, Dec. 27, that there had been a water main break at 39 Avenue and Pleasant Valley Road.

"Many streets in the area are solid ice," reads the post. "Substantial flooding on 27 Street at 35 Ave. Please take extra care."

A video posted to a local Facebook group shows a stream of water pouring from the roads towards properties.

Raine said crews were out digging up the road and appeared to have fixed the leak by midday, Dec. 27.

He promptly called a restoration company who came round and started the clean-up.

The majority of the carpets in the basement have been ripped up and large heaters and dehumidifies are drying the place out. He's glad he has insurance.

With the carpets ripped up heaters and dehumidifiers now need to dry the place out.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED: Raine Bouzane

"We'd got renter insurance thankfully, after our first flood we got it," he said.

"The first flood happened during that big hot flash, the hottest week of the summer... and now we got flooded during the coldest week of the winter."

It's unclear how many homes were affected by the burst water main, but Raine says a neighbour a few doors down had a restoration company vehicle parked outside it – suggesting the home also suffered damage from the burst pipe.

Raine said his immediate neighbours all seemed to avoid being affected by the flood.

A day after the burst water main turned some roads into skating rinks things appear to be largely back to normal.

Raine says he slept at home the night after the flood, but the noise from the heaters and dehumidifier didn't make for the best night's sleep. He said he may go and stay in a hotel while his place gets dried out and fixed.

He hopes it will be all be done in a week or so.

No one from the City of Vernon was immediately available for comment.

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