What the 2021 Freeze Taught Leander Homeowners

In mid-February 2021, Winter Storm Uri brought days of freezing temperatures to Central Texas and strained the state's power grid, causing widespread blackouts. Pedernales Electric Cooperative, which serves part of the area, reported about 170,000 outages at its peak, including thousands of Cedar Park and Leander customers.

Leander's water system was already under pressure. The Brushy Creek Regional Utility Authority treatment plant, which Leander shares, had lost use of its plant in December 2020 after a line break in its raw water intake on Lake Travis. During the storm, power to the city's Sandy Creek plant was cut off repeatedly and its backup connection failed. The city serves more than 22,000 water customers, and many lost service or were put under a boil water notice until the system recovered.

Water expands when it freezes. In a pipe, ice forms first where the pipe is coldest, and as it grows it pushes on the water still trapped between the ice and a closed faucet. Pressure builds until the pipe splits, often not where the ice is, but in the section between. When the ice thaws, the split starts leaking.

In Central Texas, homes are built mainly for heat, not cold. Pipes in attics, exterior walls and garages, and outdoor spigots and backflow devices, are the most exposed. Lines under the slab are usually protected by the ground and concrete, but lines that rise in exterior walls or run through the attic are not.

Plumbers across the region reported the same pattern after the storm: burst lines in attics, split pipes in exterior walls, broken outdoor faucets and cracked irrigation backflow preventers. Many leaks did not show until the thaw, when water started flowing again. Some homes found damage days later as stains on ceilings or wet drywall.

That delay is the key lesson. After any hard freeze, it is worth watching the meter with everything off once service returns. A moving meter means a split somewhere, even if nothing looks wet yet. A provider can find it with emergency leak detection before the damage spreads.

A freeze like 2021 may not come often, but it will come again. The best preparation is simple: know where your main shut-off valve is, insulate exposed pipes in the attic and garage, cover outdoor faucets and the irrigation backflow device, and know how to drain your lines if the power goes out for a long time.

Once temperatures rise and water service is back, check every room and the attic for drips, stains and wet insulation. Do the meter test with everything off. If anything moves, close the main valve and call. Freeze damage in an attic line can soak insulation and ceiling drywall for hours before it shows.

Since 2021, Leander and its regional partners have invested heavily in water infrastructure, including the 2024 replacement of the regional raw-water pipeline and a deep water intake project on Lake Travis. Those projects improve the public system's resilience. Pipes inside your home remain your responsibility.

If you rent in Leander, the property owner is generally responsible for the plumbing, but you are often the first to notice a problem. Ask your landlord where the main valve is, and report any leak right away, in writing if possible. During a freeze, keep the heat on and cabinet doors open under sinks on outside walls, and let a faucet drip on the coldest nights.

Close the main valve, switch off the water heater and move valuables away from wet areas. Then call for help. If the damaged line runs under the slab or a wall, a reroute may be part of the repair; see pipe rerouting. For every service in one place, see leak detection Leander.