‘Devastating’: Telecom work breaks water main, damaging homes in northeast Fort Worth
A geyser of water opened up in northeast Fort Worth on Monday, damaging trees and at least five homes near 8597 Trinity Boulevard.
Workers from a “major telecommunications company” hit a city of Fort Worth water main, which sent a stream of high-pressure water into the air, and left 20 homes without water Monday afternoon, said Fort Worth Water Department spokesperson Mary Gugliuzza.
Susie Clark, who has lived at 8604 Trinity Vista Trail for 23 years, showed the Star-Telegram the damage to her living room. Clark said she came home to a “Yellowstone geyser” shooting onto her house.
Clark came home from work Monday to find more than a foot of water in her home, and the ceiling in her bedroom completely collapsed.
She had to wait for roughly an hour at the end of her street while city crews worked to shut the water off.
“It’s devastating. That’s the only word I can think of, devastating,” Clark said.
She felt lucky her family heirlooms were spared, but said her entire home will need to be remodeled.
The city is putting her up in a hotel until Sept. 2, but Clark said she’ll probably be out of her home longer than that.
Clark’s home appeared to suffer the worst of the damage, while some of her neighbors’ had flooding.
The break had been isolated Monday afternoon, but the city needed to clear debris around a damaged valve before water service could be restored to the affected houses, Gugliuzza said about 3 p.m. Monday.
Work contained Tuesday morning to repair the main line, and repairs were completed later in the day.
Gugliuzza wouldn’t say which telecommunications company was doing work in the area. But AT&T confirmed in a statement that it was one of their contractors.
“As always, our goal is to minimize any construction-related impacts on residents. In this case, as soon as our contractor was aware of any damage, the local utility provider was notified to make repairs to the water main as quickly as possible,” an AT&T spokesperson said. “We have been in contact with city officials and are working with all parties as the cause of the damages is investigated.”
The city received a request through 811 in early August to help locate its water lines; however, the city requested that the telecom company hold off on doing the work, Gugliuzza said.
Texas 811 requests are only valid for 14 days, and the city did not receive a followup request, Gugliuzza said.
The line that broke supplies the majority of the water for the city of Hurst, city officials said in a Facebook post about 3:30 p.m. “In order to maintain adequate water system pressure,” the City of Hurst “is asking everyone to refrain from using outdoor watering/irrigation for the next 24 hours. We are also asking that you please limit water usage to essential business and personal needs. The City will provide an update within the next 24 hours.”
This story was originally published August 26, 2024 at 4:07 PM.
.jpg)