Couple says work to free trapped boring machine caused sewage to flood into their Bloor West Village apartment

A couple in Toronto’s Bloor West Village neighbourhood say they believe the city is to blame for a flood that filled their basement apartment with sewage in the spring, forcing them to leave the home they had rented for six years.

Hannah Spasov said she and her husband Kyle Gibbons received an urgent call from their landlord on May 10, informing them of a flood in their one-bedroom apartment on Old Mill Drive, in the area of Jane Street and Bloor Street West.

They raced home to find a “river” of water flowing through the rooms in their unit and attempted to salvage what they could.

The couple spent the night in a hotel and assumed they’d seen the worst of it.

“None of us could have expected the second flood that happened the next day,” Spasov told CP24.com on Friday. “The smell, I can’t describe it.”

She said on the first day it wasn’t immediately clear that the water flowing into their apartment had been sewage but when the second flood hit, excrement was visible in the water.

“If anything was on the floor, it got contaminated,” Spasov said

She said some of her most prized possessions were destroyed, including a yearbook from her and her husband’s final year of high school.

“Because we were high school sweethearts, this was very special to us,” Spasov said.

She said her husband, who is a furniture designer, lost a beautiful, handmade coffee table he designed as his capstone project while he was in school.

“That was very tough for him,” she said.

The couple was also unable to return to their apartment because, she said, her landlord was told by his insurer that he could not begin to restore the unit until the city was sure the flooding wouldn’t happen again.

Spasov said they rented an Airbnb for months, waiting to hear back about when they could go home. Eventually, the pair decided to move on and find a new place to live.

She said in the weeks that followed the flood, they discovered that the incident was likely caused by construction crews working 10 metres away to free a tunnel boring machine that was trapped underground.

The boring machine rescue was the subject of several news stories back in the summer when it was revealed that the cost to retrieve the machine had ballooned to $25 million. The machine was initially brought in to help build a storm sewer in the area before it got stuck.

Spasov said a letter from her landlord indicated that grout being used in the operation entered a pipe and caused the blockage.

Spasov, who is working to become a licensed architect, said she is frustrated with how the situation was handled, calling the lack of communication by the city “unprofessional.”

The city would not confirm if the flooding in Spasov’s apartment was caused by the crews working near the home.

City of Toronto spokesperson Russell Baker said the city is “aware of the blockages along Old Mill Drive.”

“Due to the size of the blockages in the sewers, an outside contractor is required to conduct the clearing of debris and grout,” the written statement read.

“The contractor began investigating the blockages in person last week and is taking steps to clean and clear the blockages.”

Baker went on to say that the contractor is using CCTV to try to determine the “source of the grout.”

“It is expected this investigation of the sewer will continue in the days to come. We thank the public for their patience as we work towards a solution,” Baker said.

The flood protection work being undertaken along the street has been “paused,” the city confirmed.

“The Basement Flooding Protection Program work on Old Mill Drive is currently paused while the City and the construction contractor review the terms of the contract as it relates to both the original scope of work and subsequent emergency work,” the statement concluded.

Last week, a spokesperson confirmed to CTV News that the city is investigating a sewage leak in the Old Mill Drive area that could be related to the tunnel boring machine mishap.

The spokesperson said that there have been some “recent challenges” with the sanitary sewer system near Old Mill Drive and Bloor Street West which in turn caused a back up that’s left residual materials and a smell in the area.

The spokesperson acknowledged that previous efforts to remove the boring machine may have caused the blockage.

“It is possible but not confirmed that during the process of stabilizing the ground, some of the grout made its way into the sanitary sewer which, combined with other external material, is creating a blockage and causing the sanitary sewer to back up,” the statement read.

Spasov said while she and her husband are fortunate that their tenant insurance has covered most of the financial burden of the flood, they were forced to move out of a reasonably priced apartment that they called home for years.

“The rent landscape has changed a lot in six years,” she said, adding that they are now renting a bigger space in a house for nearly triple the price.

“I didn’t expect how much rent has increased in the last six years.”

Spasov said she has taken one piece of wisdom away from this painful experience.

“If there is anything you care about, don’t keep it on the floor,” she said. “Lesson learned.”