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The Pensacola area turned into a winter wonderland this week, along with much of the Panhandle, to the delight of those able to take full advantage of the free time afforded by the snowy conditions. Once the memory-making moments and fun subsided, however, infrastructure vulnerable to the cold created problems for people all over the region.
By Wednesday evening, over 2,000 residents across Escambia County and 2,350 in Santa Rosa were without power. In the following days, as temperatures dipped into the teens overnight, failing water pipes and other plumbing issues were the latest headache for residents − even for those who never lost their power.
“Majority of the stuff we’ve been getting are frozen water lines where people can’t get water and burst pipes… we’ve had a few cases where fire lines have been frozen,” said Chad Downs, owner of Downs Plumbing & Gas in Bellview.
Hazardous driving conditions due to icy roads kept residents home and affected many local businesses, but it also made it difficult for emergency service personnel to respond to all of the service calls they were getting.
The News Journal reached out to more than a dozen plumbing companies, who each said that burst pipes is the main issue they’re dealing with after this week’s cold weather. Despite road conditions getting significantly better by Friday morning, service calls for burst pipes across the region still had responding plumbers in a frenzy.
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A representative for Aggressive Plumbing, located in Goulding, said that they’ve had over 100 calls pertaining to burst pipes in the last few days. By the middle of Friday, they had 40 calls for burst pipes that day alone.
Burst pipes were the dominant issue that plumbers across the region were facing, but tankless water heaters freezing and backflow in water systems were recurring issues as well. Some incidents with sewer lines backing up have popped up too, as grease stuck inside is turned hard by the cold weather and creating a blockage.
Escambia and Santa Rosa County residents aren’t the only ones in Northwest Florida dealing with these issues. A representative for Roto-Rooter told the News Journal that they’re getting calls for burst pipes and related problems all the way to Destin.
Why did pipes freeze?
Pipes are particularly vulnerable to bursting during cold weather because water expands as it freezes, which progressively puts more pressure on whatever container is holding that water inside.
When pipes are located in areas that aren’t resistant to the cold, like uninsulated, unheated or outside spaces, they’re more likely to freeze up and cause issues. If you turn on a faucet in your home and there’s only a drip or trickle of water, you likely have a frozen pipe.
If you notice a frozen pipe in your home, it’s recommended to turn your water line off and call your plumber before the pipe bursts, creating a far more difficult problem to repair.
Plumbers planned to continue responding to calls across Escambia and Santa Rosa counties over the weekend and response times for plumbing-related issues over the next few days will mainly depend on the level of emergency in your home, as technicians plan to focus on people in the worst condition first.
