Thaw from freezing temps causes bursting pipes throughout southeast Wisconsin

KENOSHA, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Now with the deep freeze behind us, some homes and businesses in the area have been impacted by flooding due to broken pipes.

There’s tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of damage at Interstate Blood and Plasma in Kenosha.

“Water was shooting like a fire hose across this five and half foot space,” said Mike Kowalczyk, regional manager. “One third of the building is probably in very rough shape, the rest is probably water damage.”

Crews from Paul Davis restoration were called out to help fix and clean-up the mess.

“When we have temperatures that go as low as we had the last week, there’s not much a normal home construction can do to prevent that,” said Rick Edgett, mitigation estimator.

Staff at the facility scrambled to save medical documents, also the thousands of irreplaceable units of plasma.

The walls and floors all either have to be dried out or removed.

“Water damage can cause mold if you don’t address it properly and take care of it quickly, and if you’re in that scenario it’s a whole other ball game," Edgett said. "It’s very important to take care of mitigation or the drying process immediately to stay off any environmental concerns."

Management said the damage has affected the blood collection program.  “We were not able to collect any donors on Saturday, and we’re not gonna be able to collecte any donors tomorrow on Monday.” 

A pipe also broke at St. Catherine's Medical Center in Kenosha. It caused some flooding near offices and a stairwell. No patients were impacted.

Experts with Paul Davis suggest if you need work done on your property, you should hire certified restoration professionals. That’s to make sure repairs are done correctly.