MONTREAL - One of the construction firms working on the French superhospital says it will pay for damage done to cars by flying debris.
Thursday morning concrete spilled from the high-rise job site and fell onto several cars driving along Viger Ave. at Sanguinet St.
A small hole was punched through one car's rear window, while the debris also shattered the sunroofs of two other cars.
Nobody was injured.
"We were just waiting for the light and, in the moment some stuff started to fall from the sky," said David Allard, whose car was damaged.
Jason Trudeau was frightened by the incident.
"I don't want to say it on camera but holy... you know," said Trudeau. "It gave us all a shock. I mean everyone just kind of jumped in their seats."
"I'm just happy no one got hurt and it wasn't summer. No one's sun roof was open."
For several hours police were making some attempts to divert traffic from the area. Drivers heading east along Viger Ave. were diverted into the Ville Marie Tunnel, but drivers who got onto Viger Ave. west of the entrance were allowed to continue.
This is not the first construction accident at the site of the Centre Hospitalier de l'Universite de Montreal.
In August a crane was lifting a beam when something went wrong, and the beam fell several metres onto the ground, then bounced onto a taxi and shattered its rear window.
The three people in the car were covered in broken glass, but none of them was hurt.
Debris fell from Champlain
Meanwhile a mother driving home this week had a similar run-in with gravity while merging onto Highway 10 from Autoroute 132.
A piece of the Champlain Bridge fell on Kristy Hunt's car, puncturing the roof and scraping paint off a door.
Hunt was in the car with her daughter and sister at the time, and could not believe what happened.
"You always think it won't happen to you, so now I speed, I speed more," said Hunt.
Damage to the car is estimated at $2,500, and Hunt is asking the Federal Bridge Corporation to pay for the repairs.
