A broken Tacoma Water main sent street water pouring into Evelyn and José Castellar’s Federal Way home near Lake Jean in September 2024, wrecking the plumbing, tearing through all three floors, and eventually forcing the family out for nearly a year. The damage was so extensive that Tacoma Public Utilities ultimately agreed to pay more than $1.4 million to settle the family’s claim, a payout the utility says is the largest it has ever made for a single-family home.
According to The News Tribune, Tacoma Public Utilities received a call about a water leak at roughly 3:20 a.m. on September 27, 2024, and crews stopped the flow from the broken underground main about 30 minutes later. By then, water had already flowed into the street and into the Castellars’ house, which the couple had called home since 1985. The leak caused structural damage to the house and driveway and left the property contaminated by street water, according to the outlet’s reporting.
The scope of the damage went far beyond a soggy basement. The Castellars’ claim described major damage on all three floors, a washed-away yard, and cracked, sunken cement, the newspaper reported. Their home, built in 1968 and valued at $900,000 according to King County records, needed all of its floors releveled, its walls and ceiling interiors torn out, and repairs or replacements for the HVAC system, a structural beam, all windows, most doors, the deck, and the garage.
A Two-Year Road Back Home
Remediation crews ran 44 large fans through the house to dry it out, and nearly 30 pilings were eventually installed to stabilize the structure, the report states. Tacoma Public Utilities offered the Castellars housing after the flood, and the family did not return to their Federal Way home until last fall, more than a year after the pipe burst…