Homeowners and businesses dealing with frozen pipes and water damage due to the extremely frigid temperatures
Many of you have reached out to us about how the frozen temperatures have impacted you.
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The phones have not stopped ringing for plumbers across Long Island since temperatures dropped late last Friday night.
"We're in triage mode right now," 1-Tom-Plumber Founder Phil DePaul told News 12.
1-Tom-Plumber received ten times the number of calls last weekend compared to a normal weekend, with homeowners reporting their pipes had frozen or broken.
"This weekend in particular it's been the nastiest," DePaul said. "It's that wind chill, it's been colder than before, so what we've seen is things are actually starting to snap."
Frozen pipes are an inconvenience when you lose water, but they pose big safety and financial risks if they burst due to the pressure.
Wantagh homeowner John Bifone said his pipes froze, but he was able to fix the problem on his own.
"The toilet didn't fill back up," he said. "I've had this problem ever since Sandy because I had sediment in my crawl space."
Experts recommend you open up the cabinets underneath your sinks to let warmer air pass by and leave your faucets dripping to prevent pipes from freezing.
Plumbers said the first thing you need to do if they freeze is to find the supply valve and turn it off, then try to gently thaw the pipe with a hair dryer or space heater if possible.
The extreme weather left first responders busy all weekend, too. Crews in Nassau County responded to 65 fire sprinkler breaks in both residential and commercial buildings, including hotels, apartments, restaurants, bars and shopping malls.
News 12 reached out to the Suffolk County Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services for similar statistics, but has not yet heard back.
Nassau County Chief Fire Marshal Michael Uttaro said he is very concerned about future pipe bursts later this week once temperatures increase and things begin to thaw.
