The coldest night in Texas
Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2021 2:16 pm
A few days after celebrating Chinese New Year, most of Texas endured the coldest winter in recorded history on the night of 2/15. I woke up at 3 am to the sound of gushing water and looked down from bed at (not Noah's Ark) my pair of slippers floating on water. Wading through water to the master bathroom and I found the mirror over the vanity has fallen off with water gushing out of the wall. Much of the entire first floor of the house was flooded.
Desperately tried to find the key to shut the main but couldn't find it in the toolbox. Then I called my neighbor who was out of town, praying he would pick up the phone. He gave me the code to his garage door so I could get his key and shut off the main out on the sidewalk covered in snow. With the first challenge completed, I returned to sweep water out of every door and dried off the remainder using all the bath towels in the house. Thankfully it was all hardwood floors with some rugs.
Due to the snow covered roads, most plumbers and repairmen would not want to come out to fix. Finally, one trusted handyman agreed to come out to mend the pipe so I can turned on the water main again. Most homes in Texas suffered the same fate. I am thankful we did not lose power, heat or water. Many swimming pools suffered busted pumps and filters, I am thankful at my wife's prodding that I consulted with my pool tech who instructed me to release the water from the pumps avoiding costly damages. He later told me hundreds if not thousands of pools have suffered damages, he has 50 customers who need repairs.
Desperately tried to find the key to shut the main but couldn't find it in the toolbox. Then I called my neighbor who was out of town, praying he would pick up the phone. He gave me the code to his garage door so I could get his key and shut off the main out on the sidewalk covered in snow. With the first challenge completed, I returned to sweep water out of every door and dried off the remainder using all the bath towels in the house. Thankfully it was all hardwood floors with some rugs.
Due to the snow covered roads, most plumbers and repairmen would not want to come out to fix. Finally, one trusted handyman agreed to come out to mend the pipe so I can turned on the water main again. Most homes in Texas suffered the same fate. I am thankful we did not lose power, heat or water. Many swimming pools suffered busted pumps and filters, I am thankful at my wife's prodding that I consulted with my pool tech who instructed me to release the water from the pumps avoiding costly damages. He later told me hundreds if not thousands of pools have suffered damages, he has 50 customers who need repairs.