Homes, shops flooded after frozen pipes burst
While hundreds of thousands of people struggle with basic needs such as water and warmth, others have lost their roof over their heads. Burst pipes have flooded apartments and houses, rendering them uninhabitable.
DALLAS – – While hundreds of thousands of people struggle with basic needs such as water and warmth, others have lost their roof over their heads.
Burst pipes have flooded apartments and houses, rendering them uninhabitable.
Joel Pares says he first noticed a tiny drop in his living room in the Camden Victory Park Apartments, but the situation quickly escalated.
“It just started coming down everywhere. The walls that the TV just started on, I suppose that’s where the plumbing was, it just started breaking through the walls there,” he recalled.
Pares and his neighbors grabbed brooms and everything else to get the water out.
Frozen pipes burst in Victory Park Dallas apartments, flooding some units
Bursting pipes have already messed up several Victory Park Dallas apartments.
“As much water as you would squeeze out, the same amount of water will come from the ceiling,” he said.
Jeremiah Bailleu was there to help Pares.
“There was a monsoon in this apartment,” he said. “There was water coming through the pipes through the walls from above. It was insane.”
Water streamed into Bailleu’s neighbors’ home after a fire line was blown. He says they opened the balcony doors to give the water a place to escape.
Pares says everything has been destroyed. He is currently staying with his parents until he has figured out his next move.
“It’s a surreal feeling. Like a bad dream,” he said. “I just hope to wake up in my apartment again. It still hasn’t hit. It doesn’t feel real.”
“Within five minutes of turning the power back on, our fire alarms went off,” said resident Hannah Theriault. “So of course we all wondered what was going on.”
The broken pipe set off the fire alarm and made other residents like Theriault wonder what was going on.
Meanwhile, Bailleu said he and several others used shop vacuums to keep water from entering their units. He says they drove for 7 to 8 hours without electricity.
“I’m sure the pipe wouldn’t have gotten so cold if they hadn’t turned off our electricity for so long,” he said.
Fortunately, Bailleu says his bis is still dry and it is estimated that around 8 units were affected, especially those on the ground below. Everyone else could stay in the building after the fire fighting system had been drained.
“My heart definitely goes out to everyone who was hit by the flood yesterday,” said Theriault.
FOX 4 reached out for the Camden, but we haven’t received a response yet.
In Old East Dallas, Season Pokoj awoke to water from several burst pipes that flooded their home. She quickly used everything she could to get the water out.
“Just buckets, just standing by the door and just throwing buckets of water out of my house,” she said.
The floors and kitchen need to be replaced.
“I’m not broke yet,” said Pokoj. “My goal is just to find out all of this. Fortunately, I have a place to stay.”
The Family Place emergency shelter, which houses over 120 women and children who escaped domestic violence, is also no longer habitable after the pipes burst on Tuesday.
“We could see the water pouring from the blankets and customers trying to run and get their clothes,” said Paige Flink, CEO of Family Place. “It was traumatic for her, and when you see these pictures, it’s just terrible.”
The families are currently sleeping on makeshift cots in a church, but there are no showers or privacy. You only have until Saturday to find another place.
“This is my greatest need to find out how I can find a place where I can hold everyone together,” said Flink. “Because that’s the security part of it, is the ability for us to watch and have a guard.”
Flink hopes to find a small hotel or apartment building to offer their families a safe place to rest.
“If you are a victim of domestic violence, your life has been chaotic. When you get to a safe place, you can get your first breath,” she said. “When our customers realize that this is another trauma they are going to experience, it intensifies their pain. I just hope we can find that out.”
Family Place operates other emergency shelters and encourages people in need of assistance to continue to call the 24-hour crisis hotline: (214) 941-1991.
They also ask for donations of money and clothing to replace what has been lost.
SHORTCUT: Donations for family places
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