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Austin plumbers overwhelmed after winter blast causes burst pipes all over the city

Austinites comb through Home Depot for supplies to fix broken pipes and other plumbing issues.
Local plumbers have been overwhelmed with customers as the full extent of pipe damage is realized from frozen pipes thawing after days of sub-freezing temperatures.
With so many pipe issues resulting from the freezing temperatures of the past week, plumbing companies are being bombarded with calls for service. Radiant Plumbing and Air Conditioning is experiencing up to a 300% increase in calls, and ABC Home and Commercial Services is receiving about 1,000 calls a day. Such a drastic increase in call volume means that many customers are not able to get through to plumbers or retain appointment slots.
(2) On Tuesday, a major pipe burst under our house (pictured). A plumber from NextDoor called me and coached my partner and I on how to shut off the city valve from the street- residential valve was unusable. pic.twitter.com/9i3ApgGfaC
— emily (@emily86008799) February 22, 2021
Bailey Klentzman, an Austin resident who experienced a burst pipe in her home on Monday afternoon, said her family has had trouble getting an appointment to fix their plumbing because local plumbers are so overbooked.
Despite not being able to successfully book a plumber, they have been able to get a contractor out to assess the damage to the floors and ceilings affected by the water damage. Although the Klentzmans appropriately prepared by leaving faucets dripping and cabinets open, they will still need to replace the floor and ceiling around the pipes due to severe water damage.
While struggling to find a plumber to come out, Klentzman, her husband and two dogs, have been without water for five days as of Saturday evening.
"I'm a hiker and I've done bad hikes before where I didn't plan so I had to ration water in that way, but that's just a few hours," Klentzman said. "Days without water was a little scary. I felt like I was really rationing."
After two days of rationing the little water they had, Klentzman said their neighbors came to their rescue, leaving containers of drinkable water and dog food at their home.
Chris Webb, another Austin resident, also experienced a burst pipe in his home.
Webb was out of town during the freeze, but knew something had gone awry when he received a text from his roommate.
"I got a text message from my roommate while I was trying to get home that just said, 'Code Red, man. Code red.' And I knew that that meant a pipe had finally gone."
Webb, like Klentzman, properly prepared his home to protect their pipes, unfortunately, his home has experienced extensive damage to, not only the plumbing, but the entire bathroom the leak happened in.
Having lost water due to the plumbing disaster since Wednesday after 40 hours without power, Webb and his housemates have finally had a plumber come out and restore their water.
"The whole (bathroom) wall is gutted and ripped out, but we got water running again ... and we're down to one bathroom for the house."
While overwhelmed plumbers scramble to fit Austin customers into their books, Gov. Greg Abbott has temporarily waived certain regulations for registered and qualified Plumber's Apprentices in Texas.
These waivers will allow Plumber's Apprentices, who have met all other qualifications, to temporarily repair plumbing in the state without direct supervision by a licensed plumber.
"These waivers will help meet the plumbing needs of Texans who have experienced burst pipes and other related damage from the severe winter weather," Abbott said. "By allowing certain registered and qualified Plumber's Apprentices to perform these repairs, we will be able to expedite the recovery process throughout our communities."
Despite days without power, burst pipes and extensive water damage, many Austinites share the same sentiment of gratitude for simply making it through a historic storm.
"Even with everything we've been through," Klentzman said, "we're still the lucky ones."
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(Jordan Vonderhaar/The Texas Tribune)
The Texas Senate Democratic Caucus is urging Gov. Greg Abbott to call an emergency special legislative session to consider a variety of gun restrictions and safety measures in the wake of a mass school shooting in Uvalde that left 19 children and two adults dead this week.
In a letter released Saturday morning, all 13 Senate Democrats demanded lawmakers pass legislation that raises the minimum age to purchase a firearm from 18 to 21 years old. The Uvalde gunman was 18 and had purchased two AR-style rifles which he used in the attack.
The caucus is also calling for universal background checks for all firearm sales, “red flag” laws that allow a judge to temporarily remove firearms from people who are considered an imminent threat to themselves or others, a “cooling off period” for the purchase of a firearm and regulations on high capacity magazines for citizens.
“Texas has suffered more mass shootings over the past decade than any other state. In Sutherland Springs, 26 people died. At Santa Fe High School outside Houston, 10 people died. In El Paso, 23 people died at a Walmart. Seven people died in Midland-Odessa,” the letter reads. “After each of these mass killings, you have held press conferences and roundtables promising things would change. After the slaughter of 19 children and two teachers in Uvalde, those broken promises have never rung more hollow. The time to take real action is now.”
Such laws are unlikely to gain traction in the Republican-controlled Legislature, which has a track record of favoring legislation that loosens gun restrictions. Only the governor has the power to call lawmakers back into a special session for emergency work.
Asked about a special session at a Friday press conference in Uvalde, Abbott said “all options are on the table” adding that he believed laws would ultimately be passed to address this week’s horrors. However, he suggested laws would be more tailored toward addressing mental health, rather than gun control.
“You can expect robust discussion and my hope is laws are passed, that I will sign, addressing health care in this state,” he said, “That status quo is unacceptable. This crime is unacceptable. We’re not going to be here and do nothing about it.”
He resisted the idea of increasing the age to purchase a firearm, saying that since Texas became a state, 18-year-olds have been able to buy a gun.
He also dismissed universal background checks saying existing background check policies did not prevent the Santa Fe and Sutherland Springs shootings, which both happened while he has been in office.
“If everyone wants to seize upon a particular strategy and say that’s the golden strategy right there, look at what happened in the Santa Fe shooting,” he said. “A background check had no relevance because the shooter took the gun from his parents…Anyone who suggests we should focus on background checks as opposed to mental health, I suggest is mistaken.”
Since the massacre at Robb Elementary School, the governor’s comments about potential solutions have centered around increasing mental health services, rather than restricting access to firearms.
This story has been edited for length.
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(Project Connect)
Designs for stations along Project Connect’s Blue Line were presented this week, giving a detailed look at what part of the rail system extending from downtown to the airport could look like.
The planned stations that have gotten the latest focus include Waterfront, Travis Heights and Lakeshore stations past Lady Bird Lake.
At the Waterfront station, the preliminary design aims to prevent visual obstructions and save on costs. This is accomplished by a transit guideway that will lower from the bridge to a level station.
Heading onto East Riverside Drive, the light rail faces a curve requiring a slow down to about 10 miles per hour.
The Travis Heights station could involve relocating a pedestrian crosswalk zone at Alameda Drive to Blunn Creek. Since light rails can't effectively operate on a steep grade, this allows the transit guideway to avoid that.
From there, the rail will extend to the Norwood Park area, and though it will reach along the right-of-way zone, the park will be able to remain open.
A view of the Blue Line by Lady Bird Lake. (Project Connect)
The line involves some coordination with the Texas Department of Transportation. That's because the department is working on an intersection that will have to be built before the phasing of the section of the Blue Line involving an I-35 crossing.
When it comes to the safety of cyclists and walkers, design ideas include a pedestrian hybrid beacon by East Bouldin Creek that would provide a protected signal to cross. And for the intersection TxDOT is carrying out, Project Connect is working with them on pedestrian access across the intersection. It could involve shared use paths along the street and crossings beneath it.
This summer, the public can expect 30% of design and cost estimates to be released. Though the project was $7.1 billion when voters approved it in November 2020, the latest estimates factoring in inflation and supply chain constraints show it could ultimately be upwards of $10 billion.
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