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Thousands of Houstonians still dealing with winter storm damage
Many people are still trying to dry out and recover after days of freezing temperatures causes pipes to burst in thousands of Houston-area homes.
HOUSTON - Even as this week is welcomed by warmer weather, working water, and restored power, there are thousands of Houstonians who are still far from being back to normal and are trying to recover.
Thousands of Houston-area families had their pipes burst in their homes last week and this week some are still waiting to get an appointment with a plumber.
"It started literally raining inside my apartment," says Alexes Chatmon who lives in the Cullen Park Apartments.
Chatmon says water started shooting from the walls Sunday after she says the pipe was leaking since Valentine’s Day.
"I had to turn off my breaker box because it started sparking like it was going to start a fire," Chatmon explains. She says after repeated calls to the complex she was told "Hey there’s nothing I can do right now. You’re not the only person going through this".
"When we went over there it was like it didn’t make no sense. So we went and got her a hotel, we got some clothes, food. Everything that’s needed to take care of her and the kids," says activist and rapper Trae Tha Truth.
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"I don’t know what we would have done without him and the Relief Gang. I really appreciate it," says the mother of three.
In Fort Bend County, the Munks family had nine pipes crack in the bitter cold.
"It’s my first home. To see a waterfall in my bedroom was devastating," says Crystal Munks.
"Our whole kitchen ceiling came down and it was a waterfall in there too," adds her husband Tramane Munks.
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A plumber, insurance adjuster, and contractor have now been out to assess the damage.
"And we’re doing this all over the city. I have put so many miles on my truck just in the last few days," says Kenneth Walsh with Champion Contractors.
Tramane Munks is a musician and recently bought his dream piano, a baby grand, just one of the family’s pianos damaged in the water.
"One piano that I first learned how to play on my great grandmother gave me and my daughter’s piano that her grandmother gave her before she passed," says Mr. Munks. "Our daughter was crying. She started hyperventilating in the car because she said we lost our house," adds Mrs. Munks.
"It’s just like somebody ripping the heart out of your chest. Keep us in prayer and keep everyone in prayer that’s going through this because it’s not an easy thing to go through," says Mr. Munks.
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The Munks family is staying with friends until their home is repaired.
Meanwhile, Chatmon says she’s not sure where she’s going to go. She says she’s been locked out of her apartment and she hasn’t been told why.
A representative for Cullen Park Apartments says she will look into the matter and call FOX 26 back.