Cathleen Allison/Nevada Appeal Carson City School District workers move gym equipment after a broken sprinkler line began leaking at Eagle Valley Middle School on Tuesday afternoon. Freezing temperatures have cause burst pipes throughout the area.
Bursting water pipes brought on by the freezing temperatures have kept emergency services hopping in Carson City, Storey and Lyon counties.
Carson City Fire Battalion Chief Vince Pirozzi said Tuesday firefighters responded to 47 calls for busted water pipes since Friday.
"We've had a lot today. Now that the weather is getting warmer, that's when the pipes start to leak. As it thaws out, we'll really start to get calls," he said.
Just as students were being released for the day on Tuesday, a pipe in an outbuilding at Eagle Valley Middle School burst.
"We opened the door and just let the water run out," said Mike Mitchell, director of operations for the Carson City School District. "It's freezing pretty quickly so we'll have to figure out something to do with all this ice. It's right where the kids get off the bus."
The leak triggered the fire alarms to sound, but fortunately, Mitchell said, the students were just leaving.
Carson City's Public Works Department responded to about 80 water leaks over the weekend because of pipes bursting at residences and commercial buildings, including those in the old Kmart building on North Carson Street.
"It's not the freeze, it's the thaw," said Rit Palmer, the city's water operations chief.
"In the afternoon, it all cuts loose," he added.
Pipe bursts occur every winter, but the current prolonged cold spell has put a lot of stress on people's plumbing systems and resulted in numerous calls, Palmer said.
It required 75 hours of overtime labor for city utilities personnel to respond to weather-related pipe breaks this weekend, he said.
Typically, the calls for service come from people living near vacant homes where there's no one available to turn off the water until the problem can be repaired by a plumber.
"We like to do the turnoffs unless the resident is knowledgeable enough to do it on their own," Palmer said.
In Lyon County, emergency crews responded to several leaks at schools and businesses there, including at Silver Stage High School and an RV storage lot in Mound House.
Storey County also saw its share of burst pipes.
"We've had three incidences with substantial damage on all of them. Water traveled down three floors on a commercial property on B and C Street," said Eric Guevin, fire marshal with Storey County Fire Department.
"And there was substantial damage at the Delta (Saloon) in the crawl space when a fire sprinkler froze. It was one of the main lines for the fire sprinkler. There was 3 feet of water in some areas," he said.
Cold-weather plumbing problems are expected to continue because the National Weather Service predicts continued high temperatures below 40 degrees through Saturday.
Lows will remain in the low to mid-teens.
Forecast
Today, expect partly cloudy skies with highs 32-42 and light winds becoming east up to 10 mph in the afternoon. Tonight, expect clear skies and lows 5 to 15 with light winds.
Thursday
Sunny skies with highs 30-40 and light winds becoming east up to 10 mph in the afternoon.
Thursday night
Clear skies with lows 7-17 with winds from the east around 10 mph in the evening.
Friday
Sunny with highs 34-44. Friday night calls for clear skies with lows 11-21.
Saturday through Monday night
Partly cloudy with highs 36-46 and lows 15-25.
On the Net
National Weather Service, Reno:
www.wrh.noaa.gov