Frozen pipes that start to thaw in warmer temperatures can cause huge problems.
From the moment temperatures started to tick back up this weekend, plumbers and clean up crews have been swamped with work, repairing broken or leaky water pipes.
"I call it controlled chaos," said Ron Unk, an Insurance Claim Specialist with Servicemaster Restore.
Cleanup companies, like Servicemaster, have been inundated with work.
"We probably have 75 to 140 yesterday afternoon in play," said Unk.
That's 140 water pipe bursts that his crews have responded to since the weekend. Including an office building in Highland Heights, where frozen water pipes thawed overnight and left 4 inches of standing water inside for nearly 16 hours.
"This is not a $300 situation, these are $3,000 or more situations depending on what's affected," said Unk.
If you think your pipes may still be frozen, Unk says to turn your faucets on and let water slowly trickle through. Next, he says turn your heat up and try to thaw those frozen pipes slowly. Finally, get your plumber over to handle any leak.
"Honestly now, it's probably already happened, give us a call right away and get on a list," he said.
