A 78-year-old woman is trying to salvage whatever she can after a 10-inch water main break damaged and flooded her Fort Worth home.
The water main broke around 6 p.m. on the 3600 block of Walton Avenue on Tuesday.
The break eroded the road above the pipe and sent a water cannon shooting more than 40 feet across the street, right into Ann Patrick’s home.
“It was going over the house, and I went out the patio door, and it almost knocked me down,” Patrick said.
She quickly evacuated the house, which was filling up with water.
“I saw that the ceiling had fallen in the hall, so I just got out,” Patrick said.
Crews were finally able to shut the water off after about an hour, Patrick said.
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The pressure of the water ripped part of her roof off, knocked down a few bricks and shattered windows. And that was just on the outside of the home.
Inside, there were several inches of water and parts of her ceiling were collapsing.
"The first thing I said was get my baseball stuff out. I never thought about shoes. I was barefooted,” Patrick said.
Patrick’s “baseball stuff” is a collection that would make even a serious collector drool with autographed baseballs from Hall of Famers like Sandy Koufax, Dizzy Dean and Nolan Ryan. She even had autographs from players from her favorite team, the Texas Rangers. A Will Clark, Ivan Rodriguez and Kenny Rogers baseball were all thrown in a box to dry out. Memorabilia from her trip to see Nolan Ryan inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. were also damaged.
Patrick said her father used to play semi-pro baseball and would brainstorm with teams in the 40s.
The 78-year-old said she would go to Fort Worth Cats baseball games as a kid with her twin sisters and stick around to get autographs of the players herself.
Now, she’s just hoping she can salvage any of the memorabilia.
Fort Worth city crews spent Tuesday night fixing the pipe. As of 10 p.m., roughly 70 people were without water.
Patrick just wants to know what caused the geyser of water from the pipeline to spew into her home.
“In talking to the guy from water department, he’s saying it’s not the city's fault. That makes me angry,” Patrick said.
Mary Gugliuzza with the Fort Worth Water Department said the Risk Management department will look at liability on the case. She also said a salvage crew, paid for by the city, would help clean up Patrick’s home.
