The water is gushing down, my wife runs out in the front and, lo and behold, some of our neighbors are testing out how to open up the covers so that you can turn the water valves off. They come running over, towels in hand, to sop up the water, move furniture, because it flooded our den and then it seeped down, flooded into our garage. But within 45 minutes we had all the water picked up all because of some terrific neighbors.
— Bill Mateja, a partner at Sheppard Mullin, commenting on what he and his family have done to get by during the unprecedented snowstorm in Texas that’s caused millions to go without electricity, heat, and water. A water pipe connected to Mateja’s master bathroom burst on Tuesday, flooding his den. “I probably heard of a hundred friends that have had pipes burst,” he said. “What’s different about this time is the duration of the cold snap and how cold it was. It got down to -2 in Dallas one night.”
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.