Flooded houses, businesses after the rupture of frozen pipes
While hundreds of thousands of people struggle with basic needs like water and heating, others have lost their roof over their heads. Rupture tubes flooded apartments and houses, making them impossible to live.
DALLAS – While hundreds of thousands of people struggle with basic needs like water and heating, others have lost their roof over their heads.
Rupture tubes flooded apartments and houses, making them impossible to live.
Joel Pares says that at first he noticed a small drip in his living room at Camden Victory Park Apartments, but the situation quickly worsened.
“It started to fall everywhere. The walls where the TV was just started, I assume that wherever the pipe was, it started to break the walls there, ”he recalled.
Peers and their neighbors picked up brooms and anything else they could to try to get the water out.
Frozen pipes exploded in the Victory Park Dallas apartments, flooding some units
The bursting of pipes has already messed up some apartments at Victory Park Dallas.
“No matter how much water you throw out, the same amount of water is falling from the ceiling,” he said.
Jeremiah Bailleu was there to help Peers.
“There was a monsoon inside this apartment,” he said. “There was water flowing through the pipes, through the walls, coming from above. It was crazy.”
Water gushed in Bailleu’s neighbor’s apartment after a fire suppression line exploded. He says they opened the balcony doors to give the water a place to escape.
Pares says that everything was destroyed. He is currently with his parents until he finds his next move.
“It’s a surreal feeling. Like a bad dream,” he said. “I just hope to wake up in my apartment. It hasn’t hit yet. It doesn’t seem real.”
“Five minutes after our power was turned on again, our fire alarms started to go off,” said resident Hannah Theriault. “So of course we were all wondering what was going on.”
The broken pipe triggered the fire alarm, leaving other residents like Theriault wondering what was going on.
Meanwhile, Bailleu says he and several others used vacuum cleaners to keep water out of their units. He said they spent 7 to 8 hours without power.
“I’m sure that pipe wouldn’t have been so cold if they hadn’t turned off our electricity for so long,” he said.
Bailleu says that fortunately yours is still dry and estimates that about 8 units have been affected, especially those downstairs. All others were able to remain in the building after the fire suppression system was drained.
“My heart is definitely with all the people who were affected by yesterday’s flood,” said Theriault.
FOX 4 contacted Camden, but we still haven’t received a response.
In Old East Dallas, Season Pokoj woke up with water from several broken pipes flooding his home. She quickly used anything and everything she could to get the water out.
“Just buckets, just standing in the door and just throwing buckets of water out of my house,” she said.
The floors and kitchen will need to be replaced.
“I haven’t broken it yet,” said Pokoj. “My goal is to discover all of this. Fortunately, I have a place to stay.”
The Family Place Emergency Shelter, which is home to more than 120 women and children who have escaped domestic violence, is also impossible to live after the pipes burst on Tuesday.
“We could see that water was dripping from the ceiling and customers were trying to run to get their clothes,” said Paige Flink, CEO of Family Place. “It was traumatizing for them, and certainly when you see these pictures it is just awful.”
Families are currently sleeping in temporary cots in a church, but there are no showers or privacy. They only have until Saturday to find another place to go.
“My biggest need is to try to figure out how to find a place where I can keep everyone together,” said Flink. “Because that’s the part of security, it’s the ability to keep an eye on and have a security guard.”
Flink hopes to find a small hotel or apartment building to give his families a place to rest safely.
“When you are a victim of domestic violence, your life has been chaotic. When you get to a safe place, you can breathe for the first time, ”she said. “And for our clients to realize that this is another trauma that they are going to experience really increases their pain, so I just hope we can find that out.”
Family Place also operates other shelters and encourages people who need help to continue calling the 24-hour hotline: (214) 941-1991.
They are also asking for cash donations and clothing to replace what was lost.
LINK: Donations from family places