CTV Montreal’s studios and newsroom are among the areas still off limits following a major water main break in downtown Montreal on Friday.
The break, near the Jacques-Carter bridge, sent a deluge of water into nearby intersections including René-Lévesque Boulevard East at Avenue Papineau where Bell Media’s studios in the city are located.
Video posted to the CTV Montreal website shows control panels, vehicles and other equipment covered in a mucky residue left behind by the torrent.
Among the Bell Media properties impacted were RDS, Noovo, CTV Montreal, CTV Ottawa, CTV Atlantic, and other specialty channels, in addition to Rouge FM (CITE-FM), Energie (CKMF-FM), CJAD, CHOM, Virgin Radio (CJFM-FM) and TSN Radio (CKGM-FM).
As of Monday afternoon, news crews had set up a makeshift newsroom and studio at the Bell Campus on Nun’s Island, according to an update posted by CTV Montreal videojournalist Denise Roberts.
“CTV News Montreal broadcasts will continue to be affected by technical issues caused by the flooding,” wrote Roberts. “The 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. weekday broadcasts will look different in the coming days as crews work to restore the station on René-Lévesque Boulevard.”
She added that colleagues at Noovo Info and RDS also continue to be impacted, with much of CTV’s field equipment destroyed.
CTV Montreal anchor Mutsumi Takahashi hosted an abbreviated pre-taped newscast on Friday evening from outside the building, telling viewers it had been “an extraordinary day” in the wake of the flooding.
“Many of our stations are back on-air with amended programming following the water main break,” a Bell Media spokesperson told Broadcast Dialogue in an emailed statement on Monday. “Our teams continue to work to remediate the damage and resume our normal broadcast schedule.”
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