Subfreezing temperatures and high winds created havoc on exposed pipes that buckled under Mother Nature’s pressure, causing headaches, scrambling and even evacuations in Florida’s state capital.
Randy Parker, owner of Seminole Plumbing in Tallahassee, said that he had 18 services calls for frozen or busted pipes on Sunday – a record number of calls in one day since he started his business 18 years ago.
Parker said it’s not unusual for temperatures to drop below freezing in North Florida. But the addition of frigid winds that brought wind chills to the near single digits proved too much for many aging pipes.
“The wind was the big factor,” Parker said, adding his company saw a surge in commercial and residential calls for service. “When we have that kind of wind, even if pipes are insulated, they’re not insulated enough, and if there are any gaps or anything like that, it causes damage.”
Seminole Plumbing of Tallahassee saw a record number of service calls for frozen and busted pipes during the artic cold freeze impacted North Florida.
He expected even more calls as people returned to work after a bone-chilling weekend: “It doesn’t matter if it was PVC, if it was brass, if it was steel, copper. If it was exposed, it busted a lot of backflow preventers, probably the most expensive plumbing component other than a water heater.”
Temperatures dropped to the teens and 20s in Tallahassee and the surrounding areas due to a strong artic cold front that impacted millions across the country.
At Florida A&M University, the school said there was a pipe rupture on the fourth floor of its Polkinghorne Village, a dormitory housing building on campus.
An Instagram post said, “Housing staff quickly notified all residents, and the building was evacuated to remedy the issue. The leak has been stopped and all residents may now return to Polkinghorne Village.”
Some of the coldest temperatures in years in Florida burst pipes around Tallahassee on Feb. 1, 2026.
A similar issue happened at McCollumn Hall at Florida State University, where students were briefly evacuated. Videos showed pools of water in hallways as an alarm blared in the background.
Reports of damaged pipes spread across social media.
On Sunday morning, a shopper at Publix at Village Square on Thomasville Road described how she could hear a beeping sound as she pulled up to the store. She said she could see water spraying from the roof. Inside, shoppers gathered their goods as a loud alarm blared inside.
The fire department had arrived by the time she left and appeared to stop the spray of water. She then headed to the Pizza Hut at Kerry Forest but was greeted by an employee who said they were closed because they had no running water because of frozen pipes.
The City of Tallahassee Utilities and its water system, pumps and pipes faired well, according to City Manager Reese Goad. He said there weren’t any reports of broken water mains.
“But there were a lot of reports of broken pipes at homes and businesses,” he said. “With all of the ruptured pipes the water system experienced very high demand over the 24 hour period, pumping 38 million gallons of water. This ranks in the top 10 most for 24 hours of water flow.”
Meanwhile, some residents served by Talquin Electric said they’d been without running water for about 12 hours, which included residents living in Emanuel Gardens in Quincy and the Robertsville community.
At one point, the cooperative responded to the Facebook post of a resident, who had been without water for 10 hours.
“We are actively working to restore full water pressure to your area. Our elevated storage tanks are gradually refilling, and levels are steadily improving,” the company wrote. “To help speed up the recovery process for everyone, please continue conserving water as much as possible until normal pressure returns.”
On Monday morning, the calls continued. “We are currently experiencing a high volume of calls and appreciate your patience as we work quickly to assist each Member with care,” Talquin wrote on a post.
Mother Nature left a beautiful ice sculpture in the backyard of a home in Tallahassee after a freak Florida freeze on Feb. 1, 2026, encompassed much of the state with arctic temperatures.
At Bethel Missionary Baptist Church on West Tennessee Street, frozen pipes caused the historic church to be without running water for several hours on Sunday morning.
Hundreds of church members were already in Sunday school when they were told services would be relocated to the Bethel Family Life Center, home to the church’s boys school on North Bronough Street.
“The pipes were just frozen because of the hard cold,” said the Rev. Dr. RB Holmes Jr., pastor at Bethel Baptist. He said three plumbers were called before the issue was resolved by 2:30 p.m., adding the church’s plumber already had several calls ahead of Bethel’s request for services.
Holmes said he made the call to relocate services considering the large number of members that were gathered.
“We’re fortunate to have a good crowd of people and you don’t want to have that many people in the sanctuary and your plumbing is not working,” Holmes said. “You don’t have water. That’s not good for safety or sanitation for anyone. We didn’t want to take that chance.”
How to report leaks, main breaks
If you see water flowing along the street or in the gutter, please report it to the City of Tallahassee by calling 850-891-4968. Ask to speak to a representative.
Outside the city’s service area, report water issues and outages to Talquin at 844-825-7846 (automated) or 888-802-1832 (live operator).
Contact Economic Development Reporter TaMaryn Waters at tlwaters@tallahassee.com and follow @TaMarynWaters on X.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida freeze bursts pipes as Tallahassee plumber calls surge