Plumbers receive record amount of service calls for broken pipes

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Plumbers across southeast Texas report record demand after last week's historic freeze.

Abacus Plumbing told ABC13 they received 20,000 calls for service on Friday. On average, they receive 500 to 700 a day. We caught up with Christopher Castro on a service call in northwest Harris County.

"Today, I started myself in League City, then went to Richmond, back to Houston. Now I am in Tomball," said Castro. "I've never experienced something like this."

SEE ALSO: N Harris Co. apartment floods after sprinklers go off for 7 hours inside

An ABC13 photographer was there to help out after we received calls from viewers saying the inside of their apartments looked like lakes.

Castro reminded people that it's important that you hire a licensed plumber when making repairs. You can search to see if someone is licensed via a state database.

People kept rushing into Southland Hardware on Monday in Montrose. Plumbing department manager Ian Allen said they started to see a mad dash for parts last week. It's been a challenge to keep up with demand.

"The big problem is that the freeze started farther up north and it worked its way down into Texas. We're kind of at the bottom of the pipe," said Allen. "Everyone who has had the freeze along the way has already gotten their parts. Everything is just starting to slow down as far as production and receiving of parts."

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