HOUSTON – A water pipe burst inside a downtown Houston apartment building, flooding several apartment homes first thing Monday morning.
Residents on the first floor of The Hamilton luxury apartments on St. Joseph Parkway had a rude awakening amid the frigid temperatures.
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“So, I was asleep, and then it was, like, 9 a.m. My cats were just screaming at me,” said Samantha Moon. “They already had breakfast, so I wasn’t sure what was going on.”
When she walked out into her living room, she found several inches of standing water and even more coming under the door.
“I was just like, what the (expletive)?” Moon said.
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The culprit: a faulty pipe in the ceiling of the hallway.
Initially, she thought it may have been a frozen water pipe.
“I was like, you know, this is not going to happen here,” Moon said. “You know, I pay a lot of money, and it’s a luxury apartment. So, I was like, this is not gonna happen here, but I guess it did. I don’t know much about pipes, but it’s very convenient. The time that it broke, I don’t know, it was really cold.”
The property manager, who didn’t want to speak with KPRC 2 on camera, said a total of six units were impacted by the water that traveled down the hallway. They also said the issue was an improper pipe fitting.
The result is residents like Samantha now left mopping up the water that poured inside their homes.
“My rug was drenched. I had a lot more stuff in this area that I moved out of the way,” she said. “Blankets that were, like, on the living room floor, pillows that I had, like, stuff just to be comfy on the couch were just drenched. This couch is like, cloth underneath, so it’s probably bad.”
Luckily, Samantha and her boyfriend have renters insurance to cover their costs.
The apartment complex told them they were hoping to make repairs to the flooring and other water-damaged areas quickly.
“They said they’re gonna do something with this floor and the carpet,” Moon said. “They’re gonna replace it hopefully as soon as they can.”