Extensive flooding at the Winnipeg police headquarters building last month is believed to have caused more than $1 million in damages. 

The city is still working with its insurance provider to tally the total cost of damages at the downtown office complex but “it’s anticipated that damage will exceed $1 million,” spokesperson Kalen Qually said in a statement on Friday.

A 51-year-old man and 36-year-old woman face mischief charges after they allegedly opened several emergency water-supply valves in the upper stairwells of the building on Graham Avenue between Smith and Garry streets on Feb. 14.

They were arrested the following day. 

Police said water had damaged an area from the fourth floor down, which included the main floor of the headquarters and storage area in the basement.

“The water ran down the stairs and found any opening virtually through the flooring to drip down into the lower levels, including that evidence control area,” Winnipeg Police Service Supt. George Labossière said on Saturday.

Some water dripped from the ceiling directly onto boxes containing documents and paper evidence, he said.

“Those areas were not totally soaked, but very damp to the point where we’re drying that off now and probably will be going through those envelopes over the next number of weeks to ensure that it’s dried. So it’s safe to say that that paper is damaged but not destroyed,” he told CBC News.

There was anywhere from five to 10 centimetres of water on the floor of the evidence control room “which which is highly concerning,” but everything was raised off the ground on pallets or shelves,” Labossière said.

“So much of the water that was on the floor had little to no impact to the actual evidence.”

Labossière said there are electronic copies of all the documents that were damaged, which spanned from 2013 to 2024. The physical copies are required for court purposes, he said. 

“We are confident that we have managed to retain all of that evidence,” he said.

He said the police service’s media office on the main floor of the complex sustained quite a bit of water damage, with all of the flooring and sections of drywall needing to be removed. Public information officials have been relocated to another area of the building until repairs are complete. 

“All things considered, the damage is actually fairly minimal given what could have happened,” Labossière said.

He said police have asked the city to increase security in the stairwell area of the tower building to ensure unauthorized people can’t access the area or the water valves in it.