Tony VanDerbur, General Manager at Christian New Creation’s Isaiah House and Providence House shares an update on how they fared through Winter Storm Uri:
The last few days have been a challenge for many in this great state and in our community of Christian New Creation. Here is a roundup of what has happened and the steps that are being taken to resolve the issues:
Providence House
Loss of all food products, frozen and refrigerated. These have been removed from the storage areas and residents have cleaned and sanitized the equipment that failed due to extended power outages. Product loss was just over $1,000.00, which included all the perishables. Restocking has begun and will be completed by Wednesday. We have enough foodstuffs at Isaiah House to wait for the food chains to restore their inventories.
Providence was out for just over 75 hours on power over the 4-day period of power losses and lost water pressure (below 5 psi) for five days. This caused a few minor problems, which were overcome as we had bottled water at Isaiah House and were able to transport cases there.
All water pipes and electrical systems need NO repairs during this winter event. All in all Providence House made it through in good shape.
Isaiah House
The backup generator was used and all food products – frozen and refrigerated were kept in proper storage temperatures.
Water was never below the 20 psi for the required boil water notice at any time during the course of the winter event. Only after the freeze event did Isaiah House lose water pressure as the city had to shut down the mains to make repairs on 6 major breaks in this area. Water was on and off from Friday evening, February 19, to Sunday evening, February 21. City officials came by and instructed all residents to run their water lines for 10 minutes last night to clear any sediments. This was done, and water is back up to pressure.
Extensive damage was done to the heated water systems in both Building A, the office, and Building B, the main living quarters. The tankless water heater on Building B had to be replaced as its main parts froze and destroyed the interworking of the unit. In addition, feeding lines leading to the heater failed and had to be replaced. A plumbing company was contacted, but they are unable to do any repairs until at least February 26 to March 1 at best. They have 14,000 calls to go through and service.
A new tankless water heater was found at a home improvement store in Victoria, Texas on Friday and was picked up Friday afternoon with new connection fittings. Total cost on this was approx. $1,200.00.
An A/C company was employed to replace the tankless heater and supporting systems. They came out Sunday morning and replaced all piping, valves and the heating unit. There is now hot water at Isaiah House as of 5:15 PM, Sunday, February 21, 2021.
On Building A, we have damage to the hot water delivery system. The lines leading after the hot water tank have broken and will need to be replaced. Water has been drained from under the building, and, in the next few days after we have dried out the area and parts are found, repairs will be made to that portion of the system. We will have to look for any other damage and do one thing at a time on this project. The cold water system is currently on in Building A, and it appears that we have no leaks or damage on that side of the equation.
The total cost for the replacement, parts and repairs for both Building A and B will be $1,000. The company has been paid in full. Its owner, Ed, was a former resident of Isaiah House back 6 years ago, and he believes if it was not for Isaiah House, he would not be where he is today, a company owner doing what he enjoys. Ed has saved us many dollars in the past and today after the quotes that I had received were over $3,000 on this project. His efforts on this have been a Godsend.
If everything holds together after this wrath of Mother Nature, we should be able to hold the costs below $3,500.
Thank you for all the great support that you as a board have given in the past and the direction that you guided this program for the future.