Crews running 24/7 to fix damage caused by frozen pipes across Western Washington
Cold temps burst pipes across Puget Sound
To prevent pipes from bursting, open your cabinet doors, close off the vent- ways, put a piece of cardboard in the vents.
KENT, Wash. - With the temperatures dropping well below freezing, the frigid weather has taken its toll on infrastructure across Western Washington. Pipes have been freezing, then bursting, causing flooding in businesses and homes.
FOX 13 spoke with residents at the Kentwood Apartments, who said that a pipe had burst this weekend. As a result, residents there said they were without water for more than 24 hours.
"We were out of water for a pretty long time," said Kaylee Rindlisbacher, who lives in the apartment complex.
She says the water stopped running Sunday.
"You can’t do laundry, you can’t do dishes. You can’t do anything. You can’t even take a shower," said Rindlisbacher. "It was very hard to get things done around the house."
After repairs were completed, the water was back on Monday afternoon.
"Nothing came out for a full 24 hours," said Rindlisbacher.
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It's been a problem across the area, and it's kept crews from local plumbing companies working non-stop.
At Beacon Plumbing, the phones have been ringing off the hook.
"It’s hectic," said Bill Cahill, owner of Beacon Plumbing based in Kent.
There, an electronic map showed dozens of crews out making repairs.
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"We still have about 75 trucks out from Smokey Point all the way down to Olympia, and it’s not going to be an early night," said Cahill. "These are all frozen or split pipes, furnaces that failed."
He says crews have been responding to customer calls 24/7.
"For three days and three nights, we worked long into the evening," he said.
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Even other areas are seeing a huge uptick in issues with pipes. Eastside Fire & Rescue, which covers east King County areas, said they responded to 312 water line breaks in their service area in the span of 12 hours.
He had some advice to prevent pipes from freezing:
"To prevent pipes from bursting, open your cabinet doors, close off the vent-ways, put a piece of cardboard, if you have a mobile home or modular home or an old Seattle home or Tacoma home, put a piece of cardboard in the vents," said Cahill.
He says you should also disconnect your garden hose during the winter and insulate your pipes in attics and crawl spaces.
"Any time there is a naked pipe to the wind chill, it’s going to split," said Cahill.
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He says you can also drip your faucets to prevent pipes from freezing in your home or apartment. He says it's also important to know where the valve is to shut off your water.
Cahill says if the pipes do freeze, you will need to shut off the valve to prevent the flooding of your home.