Water outage forces east Houston resident to use rain water to flush toilets

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Dozens of families in East Houston have been without water for almost two days.

Patricia Gomez has been collecting rain water in trash cans and buckets to use to flush her toilet.

"Being that I'm handicapped, I can't carry buckets of water and tote it in the house to pour in the toilet," Gomez said, "So I have to get someone to carry the water in, pour it in the toilet, and that's embarrassing."

Daisy Barragan lives two streets away from Gomez. She filled her bathtub with water Tuesday, but that water is running out.

"They had the city of Houston out here yesterday working on it and it never got fixed," Barragan said, "And now with the rain, I doubt they can get any work done, so we're stuck with no water again."

Eyewitness News contacted the public works department to get some answers. According to spokesman Alvin Wright, employees with a nearby Valero refinery plant damaged a 20-inch water main. That line supplies water to an entire block of homes. Crews are working to repair it, but the rainy weather is slowing down their progress.

By 6pm Thursday, crews restored water to one street and were working on a second.

The City of Houston Public Works Department is passing out bottled water to homes still without water.

Until water is restored to Gomez's home, she hopes the rain keeps falling.