New Orleans plumbers busy as snow melts, pipes break | Weather

Tracy McGuire thought it was safe to stop dripping the faucets in his Gretna home once temperatures reached above freezing Thursday morning. But only four hours later, he heard a loud burst outside, and he rushed to turn off his main water valve.

With icy road conditions making it difficult for a plumber to come, the 63-year-old used a bucket of water and case of water bottles for 24 hours as they waited for assistance to arrive.

Come Friday morning, Gretna-based Heck of a Plumber was there and fixed their pipes in about 40 minutes.

The McGuires are among hundreds of New Orleans area homes in need of plumbing services as record levels of snow and ice blanketed the region. And while plumbers say the issues they’re seeing are less severe than they anticipated, other factors like extreme traffic and icy conditions have made it difficult for them to accommodate the number of calls they’re receiving. 

“We’re doing smaller repairs like faucets and stuff,” said Ryan Heck, owner of Heck of a Plumber. “It’s just hectic because we want to get everybody water and do as many jobs in a day as possible.”

Heck said his team of four plumbers is working 15-hour days to accommodate the number of calls they’re getting. They’ve completed about 30 jobs so far, and have another 35 more on their backlog as customers continue to call them.

Richard Tassin Jr., owner of Richard’s Plumbing, said he plans to work through the weekend to respond to more than 50 calls, well over double the number of calls he usually gets.

Ceara Labat, spokesperson for the Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans, said they’ve received about 1,100 calls regarding water issues since the start of the storm, out of 140,000 households they service. Jefferson Parish has had 201 calls for pipe leaks in unincorporated areas, including 46 major waterline breaks as of Friday afternoon.

The historic snowstorm strained water systems across the parish as running faucets and water main breaks led officials to issue boil water advisories in New Orleans East, Gretna and in nine other parishes. Residents across the region, including New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, have also been asked to conserve water use on both sides of the river.

But while plumbing companies were fully operational Friday, severe traffic caused by major road closures led many to spend most of their days commuting from job to job.

Pete Graffeo Jr., owner of Pete’s Plumbing & Heating, said he spent about three hours in traffic near the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport while on a mission for a specialized part for a backflow valve repair. Another member of his team took three hours to get from the east bank to the Home Depot in Gretna.

“I could have gotten six more jobs done today if it wasn’t for the traffic, just myself,” Graffeo said.

Heck spent two hours Friday looking for clear entrances to the Crescent City Connection so he could work a job in the French Quarter, but after driving around Terrytown for two hours he gave up on the endeavor and returned to jobs on the West Bank.

On the plus side, plumbers said, the jobs they’re working on are fairly minor, taking less than an hour to complete. Their work has also only gotten easier as snow and ice have thawed from customers’ backyards and driveways, as repairs done during the freeze were “like [they] were skiing” due to slippery surfaces, Heck said.

Graffeo theorized that residents heeded freeze warnings more seriously this week than in years past and were more diligent to insulate pipes and drip faucets. 

But with aging water systems and housing stock across New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, “There are certain houses where it doesn’t matter what you do, Mother Nature is going to cause your pipes to break,” Graffeo lamented.