It wasn’t the start to 2018 property manager Ming Chow was expecting – receiving a phone call New Year’s day that one of the condo complexes she manages was flooded with water.
“The water just kept rushing down the walls of the building.”
The sprinkler system pipe, which lines the ceiling of the top floor of the complex, burst during the extreme cold.
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“Water was pouring down the stairwells, coming out of electrical fixtures,” central district fire chief Mike King said. “There was a hazard being created by the water.”
Fire crews immediately shut off power to the building, turned off the water to the complex and evacuated people living in the seven occupied suites.
All four floors were damaged by water, but Chow said she won’t know the full extent until the city assesses the condo complex on Tuesday.
Fire officials say calls just like this one happen a lot after extreme cold; pipes and water mains freeze and burst.
Crews were flooded with water related calls Monday with 61 between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. – substantially more than on a regular day.