FORT WORTH, Texas — At least four people who live on Trinity Vista Trail tell WFAA they've started cleaning up and repairing their flooded homes without any guarantee they'll be reimbursed for their work.
The damage is certainly not the homeowners' fault, but they say no one else has formally accepted responsibility. Insurance companies and their attorneys are haggling over whom to hold liable for the water main break that shredded treetops, peeled back roof shingles, and drenched living rooms.
One week ago Monday, a contractor working for AT&T mistakenly drilled a hole into a 33-inch water main that runs from the eastern Fort Worth neighborhood to the DFW airport. The artery is among the city's "critical" pipelines, water department spokesperson Mary Gugliuzza said after the incident.
The construction crew had asked city surveyors to identify pipelines and underground infrastructure in early August, Gugliuzza said. At the time, she said the city of Fort Worth instructed the company to hold off on the work.
The city did not communicate further with the company, Gugliuzza added, stopping short of saying the crew should not have been digging in the area Monday.
“That’s for attorneys and risk [management] folks to hash out,” she said.
The water shot out, at pressure, into the homes behind it. Neighbors took video of the geyser, which soared 20 feet over their rooflines.
The street flooded. A water line inside Susie Clark's house is two feet from the ground.
"Everything is damaged," she told WFAA. "It will all have to be replaced."
Clark's home sustained more damage than any other. It is not habitable.
The City of Fort Worth paid for the 72-year-old to stay in a hotel room for one week, but she'll have to make other arrangements after Monday night.
Though her roof is covered in a blue tarp and her home is not habitable, she must also make a house payment on Tuesday - the first day she'll consider herself "homeless," she said.
An insurance adjuster is scheduled to visit her home for the first time Tuesday.
At least two of Clark's neighbors tell WFAA their own homes' insurers denied their claims because their policies do not cover water damage losses caused by any problem outside the home.
"If they're saying they cannot process the claim, then what's the whole point of having insurance?" asked Jokutty Thomas, who was on vacation during the incident and plans to file an insurance claim on Tuesday. He said he was not encouraged by his neighbors' experiences.
The homeowners are hoping the contractor's insurer will take care of their claims, but they cannot wait for insurance attorneys to determine liability. Most have started paying for cleanup out-of-pocket, unsure whether they'll get all their money back.
"Someone should be held responsible," Thomas said. "This is not our fault."