East Dallas water main breaks for second time in less than a year

An East Dallas couple is frustrated with the city after the same water main broke and flooded their home for a second time.

The homeowners say what’s even more frustrating is the city of Dallas never compensated them for the damages to their home last time. Now, they have to pay for the city’s apparent poor fix yet again.

“I'm in shock, I'm shaking,” said homeowner Cathy Henry. “We literally just got our driveway fixed. We have a cobblestone driveway and the water just buckles it."

About $20,000 worth of damage was caused to the couple’s home near Abrams Road and La Vista Drive on July 28 last year when the water main first broke. It happened a couple of months after the Henrys bought the home.

“Not sure how the repair job went that we're dealing with 6-8 months later,” said homeowner Peter Henry.

The city did not contribute a single cent to the repair bill for the 2015 damage, claiming government immunity, and the Henrys are not expecting any help this time around either.

“We're only a couple of weeks passed having had all the work completed,” said Peter. “It's disappointing to see it happen again and know that a six-month trek is laying a head of us again to figure this out and get it repaired."

In July, the city blamed the hot weather.

“I'm a little concerned about why it broke today at only 75 degrees,” said Cathy.

Cathy says all of the water in their garage is ruining furniture stored there for her husband's business.

“Last time it took them four hours to get here,” said Cathy. “Water just came in and came in that entire time."

This time, it took two hours before the city arrived to shut the water off. 

FOX 4 asked the city why the same pipeline failed less than eight months after it was repaired. A spokesperson says they don't yet know why it failed says in July the same pipeline failed 25 due to corrosion.