Freeland feeling deep freeze
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FREELAND — Nights of sub-zero temperatures froze sections of Freeland’s public water system, leaving at least 65 homes without service and prompting borough officials to declare a state of emergency.
To assist those affected, the YMCA and fire department has opened their doors to those in need of water supplies and showers.
Gerald Feissner, vice chairman of the Freeland Water Authority, said Tuesday that while the borough’s mains are not frozen, some lateral lines that connect to houses are.
Tuesday morning’s low was minus 8 degrees, tying the record set in 1914. The region saw other records being broken last week — the lows on Thursday and Friday were minus 6 degrees, breaking records set in 1936 and 1978, respectively.
Vincent Knarr was among those without water.
Knarr, 33, had gone without water for about a day as of Tuesday afternoon. He said that he was able to open one of his pipes in the basement and get about a gallon of water to use. He sent his 7-year-old son to stay with some relatives until the water came back on.
If the water wasn’t fully functional today, he said he might be joining his son with his relatives.
“It’s rough,” he said. “It’s hard to wash dishes and make any food without water.”
Feissner met with officials from Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency on Tuesday to determine when a state of emergency would be announced. Mayor Ed Appleman explained that the state of emergency enabled the borough to seek resources from outside of the borough to thaw the water lines — specifically, crews to digs the lines up and thaw.
“That’s one of our possible things we’re going to have to do,” he said, but added officials will look for any means necessary to get water back on for residents.
He said that one contractor had already declined the job on Tuesday night.
Appleman also said that the borough will be seeking assistance from the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency.
It was not clear as to when the repairs will be made on the frozen lateral lines.
“It’s more or less (dependent on) the weather,” he said.
Community support
The YMCA is open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m., and is offering showers for anyone that is without water.
“Anything we can do to help,” said Joe Flanagan, chief executive officer of the borough’s YMCA.
The Freeland Fire Department is also offering water for those in need.
Chief Joseph Stepansky said a number of people came in for water, and he expected it to get busier the longer the outages persist. Appleman said personnel at the fire department will be on-hand around the clock to provide water to those that need it.
“More families are freezing up, and we hope it thaws it really quick to solve the problem,” he said.
Stepansky added that the frigid cold is also a challenge for crews if they are called to the scene of a fire.
“Right now, we’re just keeping our toes and our fingers crossed that the pagers don’t go off for any kind of an emergency,” he said. “These severe cold conditions create havoc trying to respond on the fire scene. It’s a safety issue, things break when they’re cold like this and people get injured.”
Other issues
Pennsylvania American Water is no stranger to issues due to the cold snap.
Company spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich said her company has seen about 20 water main breaks over the weekend due to the cold weather.
The company is also dealing with a valve break on Parsonage Street in Pittston but Turcmanovich said the cause of the break is not known at this time.
A valve on a 20-inch water main started to affect customers in parts of Hughestown and Pittston on Sunday. The repairs were originally scheduled for Monday, but were then postponed to Tuesday and eventually to today.
Starting at about 8 a.m. today, crews will redirect water flows to minimize the number of affected customers, however this work may cause some customers to experience discolored water for a short time. Crews will begin to isolate the break on Parsonage Street and start repairs at approximately 3 p.m.
Normal service is anticipated to be restored by Thursday morning.
