New Jersey plumber drives to Houston to help homes in need after winter storm
The unexpected winter weather led to a greatly increased demand for plumbers in Texas
This week, a New Jersey plumber is being hailed as a hero for driving to Texas to help residents plagued with burst pipes and other property damage caused by last week’s winter storms.
According to CNN, after hearing that local plumbers were unable to keep up with calls from distraught customers, Andrew Mitchell and his wife, Kisha Pinnock, made the bold decision to drive 22 hours from Morristown to Houston with their two-year-old son Blake and a truck full of tools.
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Sunday afternoon when the family arrived, Pinnock’s sister, who lives in Houston, was able to connect them with several residents who had been struggling to find help and were more than happy to enlist the services of Mitchell’s Plumbing & Heating.
“By the time we got here there was already about four or five jobs lined up from my sister, and we just hit those first and then everything after that has really just been referrals from like the initial customers, like their friends and family,” said Pinnock. “Since we’ve been here, it has really been nonstop.”
Among those aided by Mitchell was Dedrick Dock, of Spring, Texas who told CNN that he’d ran through a list of over 15 plumbers before hearing about Mitchell’s Plumbing & Heating from a friend’s neighbor.
“We had to relocate for over a week because we needed to get someone out there,” said Dock, whose family had to leave their home due to a broken pipe. “And of course, with the plumbers here they were already overwhelmed with the work that was going on.”
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Mitchell and his family had originally planned to return home next week, but given the staggering need in the area, they have now extended their time in Houston for at least another two weeks.
“I think that we made a difference, for sure,” said Pinnock.
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