The Big Leak
Back in November of 1986, Vancouver
was into the middle of winter weather. Rain was coming down in
droves. It was so heavy at times that the windshield wipers on
high speed could not clear it. This went on, as usual, for days
at a time.
Police Headquarters at 312 Main
Street, is an old building. Somebody in their infinite wisdom
years ago, gave the building a flat roof with a retaining wall
around the edge. This gave the building roof the appearance of
a swimming pool when it rained. An even stranger piece of wisdom
had pipes installed to allow water to drain off the roof, but
had those same pipes running through the building.
After years of handling all
of this water, the pipes had become badly corroded, but because
they were concealed behind the walls, nobody was aware of it.
On this particular night, with monsoon like rains, the strain
became too much for the downpipes and they broke. With nowhere
to go, the water began too gather at various points throughout
the building. In behind walls, in ceilings, everywhere.
The first indication of trouble
was a damp spot in the corner of one office. Inspector Pat Laughy's.
Shortly after, one of the drywall nails let go and it produced
quite a fountain effect with all that pressure behind it. Well
before you could turn around, walls and ceilings everywhere were
releasing all this pent up pressure. There was water everywhere.
Computers were being soaked, reports were getting drowned, the
whole building it seemed was in danger of being washed away.
When the ceiling in the front
counter let go, it was as if Niagra Falls had been rerouted through
the lobby. It was quite a sight. George Goodall was the Corporal
in charge at the front counter that evening, and he did a valiant
job in trying to rescue equipment, reports and arrange evacuation
of affected offices. The Fire Department pitched in too, sending
crews over to help stem the flow of water.
There was a lot of damage done
that night, but it could have been a lot worse. There was even
a funny side to this whole story, as I tried to convey in this
poem. Denny Boyd a columnist for the Vancouver Sun must have thought
so too. He got a copy of the poem from a bulletin board and published
in his column. My thanks to him for my first "real"
published effort.