Austin Fire Dept overwhelmed with hundreds of broken pipe calls

Low temperatures lead to burst pipes throughout Austin

As of 6pm Austin Fire had received 685 broken water pipe calls to 911 in one day. AFD says they were only able to respond to a fraction of those calls.

AUSTIN, Texas - The Austin Fire Department says it's received almost 700 broken water pipe calls since midnight, and they’re only able to respond to a fraction of that. This number is three times the amount of calls they got the day before.

AFD received 685 water pipe calls after pipes bursted due to freezing temperatures across Central Texas. It was the reality for hundreds of Austinites as their homes were flooded Tuesday.

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Jessica Rio told FOX 7 she was watching Netflix on the couch of her apartment at the Agave South Congress Apartments when water busted through her wall and soaked her entire living room. She says she had never experienced any power outages or problems before this.

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Austin Fire has tweeted out a water pipe break at the 705 Apartments on S. Lamar at 12:30. Water was continuously flowing out of multiple apartment’s patios for hours before the water was finally turned off.

"It was like a waterfall," said Michael Rodriguez, tenant at 705 Apartments.

Rodriguez says this wasn’t the first pipe explosion at these apartments. He says one happened three days prior. "The alarms went off so that was the first sign, and then after the alarms, we looked around and the power went out next. From that night came around 1am to 2am. When the storm came, and when the storm came, we actually noticed the water pipe broke more down that way, near the gym."

Austin Water says it responded to two water main breaks today. Austin Water advises residents to drip faucets all day while the cold remains (five drips per minute). This will save your pipes from freezing over and later exploding.

Austin Water has also made a form available on their website for Austinites to report issues with their water.

Thousands remain without power as temperatures in homes dip near freezing

Austin Energy says there's no other options to rotate outages that wouldn't affect power at places like hospitals or 911 call centers.

If residents do discover frozen pipes, work to thaw them. The Balance lists tips for thawing a frozen water pipe.

It is important when thawing a pipe to start at the faucet and then work your way down the pipe. If you have power, you can use a hair dryer, heat lamp, portable space heater, hot towels, or electric heating tape to thaw a frozen pipe.