Water Pipes Burst Across Texas, Setting Off a Hunt for Plumbers
- Contractors predict recovery from deep freeze will take months
- The disaster covers all of the largest of the lower 48 states
Water flows out from a burst water pipe in Austin, Texas, on Feb. 18.
Photographer: Thomas Ryan Allison/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
After the big freeze in Texas comes the big thaw -- and the big demand for workers to repair the broken pipes and sagging roofs the retreating ice and snow will reveal.
It could take months for contractors to fix the damage the massive storm inflicted on Texas, said Greg Sizemore, a vice president of the Associated Builders and Contractors. The magnitude of the problem could be much larger than Hurricane Harvey, which was confined mostly to the Gulf Coast. Other states are also in need of contractors, and the industry has been facing a shortage of construction workers because of Covid-19 health and supply issues, Sizemore said.