Burst pipes at Freedom Height Lofts in Old Fourth Ward.

If you’ve been on social media at all in the last 48 hours, it’s hard to miss all the videos of floods occurring in Atlanta apartment complexes and businesses as frozen pipes thawed and burst after the frigid weekend.

Apartment and condo buildings seemed particularly hard-hit as frozen sprinklers and pipes burst and flooded hallways, units, and lobbies – usually accompanied by blaring fire alarms.

Icon Buckhead, Peninsula, The Reserve at Lavista Walk, Camden Midtown, Plaza Midtown, Sheraton Atlanta Downtown, Regency Square, Aster Buckhead, Paces 325, Helios, and Hanover Alexan on 8th, and Freedom Height Lofts were just some of the buildings damaged by burst pipes.

This afternoon, all Fulton County Libraries and The Varsity in Midtown announced they were closed due to water damage. There were also videos of water cascading through Invesco’s headquarters, areas of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Lenox Square in Buckhead, and Puttshack in West Midtown, Steak Market restaurant in Midtown, and Krog Street Market in Inman Park, and Georgia State University’s Downtown campus.

Temperatures dropped below freezing for three days – including 8 degrees on Christmas Eve morning –  with windchills below zero.

Collin Kelley is the executive editor of Atlanta Intown, Georgia Voice, and the Rough Draft newsletter. He has been a journalist for nearly four decades and is also an award-winning poet and novelist.