Mystery leak that forced Scarborough family from home spreads as city continues to investigate

Michael Smee · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 05, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 minutes ago

A enigma leak that's forced a Scarborough household from their location for the past period appears to beryllium spreading. 

Linda Mangalathu, her hubby and 2 children discovered the flood successful precocious April, but plumbers were incapable to lick the problem, which grew for respective days until the household was forced to determination successful with adjacent relatives.

Now, her adjacent doorway neighbours, Bailey Panesar and his wife, study they excessively were flooded retired by ankle heavy h2o successful their basement connected May 24. 

"I was bringing up 20 oregon 30 buckets of water, moving up and down the stairs," Panesar told CBC Toronto of the nighttime his basement flooded. "Nothing helped."

Across the street, a 3rd homeowner connected Shadowood Court, successful the Highway 401 and Morningside Avenue area, said she began experiencing smelly, murky pat h2o conscionable this week.

"I'm nervous," Elenita Sarcilla told CBC Toronto.

She said she's disquieted astir what could go of her home after what happened to neighbour Mangalathu's property, which is inactive marred by a ample and increasing excavation successful the mediate of her beforehand yard. That has present been expanded by contractors to see astir a 3rd of Panesar's driveway.

City media relations manager Russell Baker said successful an email that metropolis crews are engaged shoring up the pit successful Managalathu's beforehand yard, while trying to pin down a interruption successful the tempest sewer enactment that connects Mangathalu's location to the municipal sewer system.

That clogged tempest sewer tube was discovered astatine the opening of May, but contractors person told CBC Toronto determination person been problems discovering precisely wherever the interruption is. Besides, they've said, there's nary warrant that the breached tube is causing the flooding.

City engineers are trying to find the champion mode to find and repair the interruption successful the tube safely, says Baker.

"Once the City's enactment connected the inferior infrastructure is complete, the City volition implicit restoration of the City's lands adjacent to the homeowner's property," Baker's email reads. 

As for the root of the water, Baker's email says it "appears to beryllium groundwater."

"It is the work of the spot proprietor to analyse and code immoderate issues connected the backstage broadside of the property," the email continues.

Mangalathu told CBC Toronto this week that the problems person truthful acold outgo her astir $50,000 and she expects that measure to emergence to $70,000 erstwhile her contractor has filled successful the spread successful her beforehand gait and repaired harm to neighbouring properties. That includes piles of asphalt and different operation debris connected 1 neighbour's beforehand gait and the harm done to Panesar's driveway.

Mangalathu says lone astir $15,000 of that volition beryllium covered by her security company.

Panesar said successful his basement, insignificant flooding occurred astir May 19 as contractors were excavating Mangalathu's gait adjacent door, but rapidly escalated to a superior flood implicit the adjacent fewer days.

He hired a plumbing contractor who helped pump the h2o retired of his basement and unopen disconnected each the h2o to the house. Workers hired by his security institution person present "demolished" his basement, helium said, and helium and his woman person moved into a hotel. All of his expenses truthful acold person been covered by his security company, helium said.

"It was amusive the archetypal mates of nights," Panesar said of surviving successful the hotel, "but present it's terrible. Takeout nutrient for each repast of the time — it's decidedly not a bully feeling."

He's besides acrophobic astir the aboriginal of the location helium and his woman bought earlier this year. Although determination is nary h2o successful the basement now, helium worries astir what volition hap erstwhile the pumps are turned disconnected and the h2o is turned connected again.

'Complete mystery'

"It's obscurity adjacent wrapped up," helium said. "It's a implicit mystery."

The neighbourhood's woes began connected Mangalathu's property at the extremity of April, erstwhile she experienced thing galore Toronto homeowners are acquainted with: a insignificant basement flood she initially thought required thing much than a $300 plumber's visit.

Workers discovered a leak successful her sewer pipes and determined the tempest sewer tube had collapsed nether the value of bedewed ungraded —a occupation they could not instantly fix, arsenic the pipes widen retired onto metropolis property. 

Benjamin Sarault of Henry's Bobcat Service said he's established that the home's weeping tile strategy — a perforated tube that circles a location to cod immoderate underground h2o — is intact and delivering immoderate h2o it catches into the tempest pipe, arsenic it should. 

But that damaged tempest tube could beryllium spilling the h2o close backmost into the ungraded astir the houses, helium says. From there, the h2o could beryllium making its mode backmost done the instauration into the house, but helium acknowledges that's conscionable a guess. 

While Mangalathu waits for the result of the city's probe and repairs, her costs are mounting and so is her accent level. She also says she's had to instrumentality clip disconnected from her job.

"My beingness is paused; I don't cognize what to bash next," she said Tuesday. "Frustration, stress, you sanction it.

"I'm hoping to get backmost into my location and my mean life."