Texas weather: New Jersey plumber offers a helping hand
From halfway across America, one plumber has answered the pleas of Texans still grappling with the aftermath of a devastating winter storm.
As the coldest temperatures in over 30 years swept through Texas in early February, pipes burst in homes across the south-western state, leaving thousands of families with flooded homes and no water. Plumber Andrew Mitchell and his family drove 22 hours from Morristown, New Jersey to the Houston area in a truck loaded up with around $2,000 (£1,418) worth of materials to offer a helping hand. Since their arrival on Saturday, Mr Mitchell and his brother-in-law-turned-apprentice, Isiah Pinnock, have worked from morning until night to fix pipes and repair other damage in the storm-ravaged region. "It's really a blessing to be a blessing to other people and Andrew truly enjoys the work," Mr Mitchell's wife, Kisha Pinnock, told the BBC. "Plumbing is his passion." Last week, Mr Mitchell noticed "a call for help" from Texan plumbers on Facebook, who said they were being overwhelmed by 150 to 200 calls each day. Aware that supplies were largely sold out across Texas, America's second-most populous state, Mr Mitchell went down to his local store and purchased "as much material as he could afford at the time". With their two-year-old son Blake and Isiah - a college senior - in tow, the couple made the 1,500 mile (2,400km) drive down to help out their first client: Ms Pinnock's sister in Humble, Texas. Since then, Ms Pinnock says, her husband has been working "nonstop", locating the damage in collapsed ceilings, frozen walls and - in one harrowing episode - working beside snake eggshells in a crawl space. "A lot of the people we've helped were telling us they either can't get a plumber on the phone or - if they do get one on the phone - the wait to be serviced is three to four weeks out, so they can't have water during that entire time," says Ms Pinnock. After almost a full week in, the family wants to keep helping out for as long as it can. Mr Mitchell plans to keep working "until he runs out of material". He says he might even make a return trip to the area. For now, while supplies last, they plan to visit the Texas capital city of Austin tomorrow. "Last night, Andrew did not get back home until two in the morning and he was out of here by 07:30 this morning," Ms Pinnock says. "He's always been dedicated to his craft." Reporting by Sam Cabral