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Freeland Finally Free Of Frozen Water Problems

FREELAND — It’s been a long week for some residents in Freeland dealing with frozen water pipes, but those troubles may finally be coming to an end....
freeland water unfrozen

FREELAND -- It's been a long week for some residents in Freeland dealing with frozen water pipes, but those troubles may finally be coming to an end.

The mayor lifted the state of emergency Friday afternoon as nearly everybody has water.

The Freeland Municipal Authority was overwhelmed with the frozen water pipes, and even though the water is back on, residents are now being warned to run their water to prevent the same thing from happening again.

Freeland Municipal Authority crews have been working 12 to14 hours a day for more than a week, thawing frozen water pipes in more than 60 homes throughout the borough.

"Oh, my heart goes out to them. They are here all hours of the night. I went down early this morning," said Thomas Yannes. "At 7 o'clock they were all down here. They look like they were worn out."

Yannes was one of the last people in the borough without water this morning. One of his pipes froze Thursday night. Although he knew many in Freeland were dealing with frozen pipes this week, after 43 years living there, he just didn't think it would happen to him.

"Now I am going to take their recommendation. When they put the water on, I will leave a pencil stream running!"

By Friday afternoon, municipal crews said they have just a handful of homes left with frozen pipes. But with temperatures expected to drop overnight, they are asking residents to run water so they don't have be back out.

"I was running it last night but I guess it wasn't quite wide enough because it just froze up again. But water is back so all is good," said resident Robert Gresh.

The water authority advises running the water in a stream that is about the width of a pencil, for at least 8 hours a day.

It's a lesson Gresh learned the hard way. He lost water three times this week.

"I'm enjoying having water in my home again, and not having to run around like crazy."

Gresh says he appreciates how the community came together and helped out for the week he and many in the borough would like to forget.

The water authority has not calculated the total cost to thaw all these pipes in and around the borough. They said they plan to pick up the tab for the first time they thaw a residents pipes, after that they plan to charge $200 for repeat offenders.

 

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