After returning with her family from a holiday vacation, Denise Correa found icicles hanging from her dining room ceiling and water line breaks in several parts of the house that she rents. Correa surveyed the damage and watched Monday as plumbers worked to repair the lines.

While all northeast Kansas residents have started the New Year in below-freezing temperatures, west Lawrence resident Denise Correa started it off in a frozen home.

After returning home Sunday night from a five-day visit with friends in Colorado, Correa and her four children discovered that four pipes had burst in her house.

“I feel devastated,” Correa said. “I mean, it’s a lot of work to be done.”

During the time they were gone, Correa’s furnace stopped working, causing water in her pipes to freeze. Then the pipes burst.

Kastl Plumbing technician Terry Lewis was on the crew working on the house.

“There were icicles hanging from the chandelier and the ceiling had dropped on the floor, and there were several burst water lines, and so we just cut the water off and started replacing,” he said. “It was a mess.”

It was a mess Correa said she couldn’t have prevented.

“We left the heater on 70,” she said. “I mean, what else could I do?”

Correa does have one piece of advice for people who leave home during cold weather.

“Have someone come and watch your house, keep an eye on your house and make sure everything’s OK,” she said.

Lewis offered additional advice:

• Unscrew hoses so outside faucets don’t freeze.

• Leave cabinet doors under sinks open so heat from the house can warm pipes.

• Turn on a trickle of water to help prevent freezing.

• Don’t turn off your heat or turn down the thermostat too far.

• Don’t leave outside doors or windows open.