The frigid temps and blowing snow may be gone (for now) but the aftermath of the weather we endured for two weeks leading up to the holidays continues to plague some local homeowners.
City crews in Flandreau have been responding in recent weeks to calls for service of water line breaks. On Thursday this past week, water crews along with a company out of Sioux Falls worked again, to repair a line from the main on Pipestone Avenue in downtown Flandreau, into a home. The break itself wasn’t new, it just needed additional repairs, City Administrator Cohl Turnquist told the Moody County Enterprise. As a result, water had to be shut off for some time Thursday morning from the 200 to 700 block of Pipestone Avenue.
The City received four calls for assistance within the last two weeks, due to frozen or broken water lines within individual properties. The calls for assistance are typically handled by the property owner, said Turnquist. He said that it’s important homeowners know where their main shut off valve is and get to that quickly if there are any issues. If that valve is unable to be used or accessed, the City will then assist the property owners by shutting off water at the curb stop. Additionally, he said, community members are encouraged to routinely check the temperature level within their property to prevent pipes from freezing.  

“City Public Works staff has done an exceptional job providing service to our community through the winter storms we have been experiencing and continues to operate responsively and efficiently to all calls for service,” said Turnquist.
Among the other entities working to recover from frozen water pipes is Avera Flandreau Hospital. A sprinkler pipe above the emergency room froze and broke on Christmas Eve.  Hospital officials report significant damage to the ER and most of the medical equipment in those rooms. Medical equipment was reportedly coming this past week to create a temporary functional operational emergency room but the facility was still taking all patients and making due with space within the rest of the facility.
On the home appliance side, Flandreau did not have any reports of issues with appliances. Turnquist said that throughout the frigid weather, the city electric system has maintained service to the entire community without any outages or power surges, which is due largely to the fact that nearly all of the City electric infrastructure is now all underground.
Individual problems were reported elsewhere across the county but no major problems within any of the other metro areas.