SHANGHAI: A woman in northwestern China forgot to turn off the tap of her water heater after bathing, causing an hours-long leak that turned her residential community into an outdoor skating rink.
The woman, known as Wang, released a video on social media on January 16 apologising to residents in her neighbourhood in Lanzhou, Gansu province, the Xianfeng News reported.
“I took a shower last night and then forgot to turn off the water tap of my home’s solar water heater. The water was flowing out of the tank for nine hours,” she said in the clip.
“The skating rink in our community you saw this morning was made by me. I am sorry. I made this mistake,” added Wang.
The tank for her water heater is on the roof of the building. After Wang forgot to close the tap, the water kept flowing to the tank before leaking from it.
Her rival video clip showed the water flowing out of the tank, streaming down the wall and spreading onto the road outside.
The night temperature in Lanzhou dropped to minus eight degrees Celsius in mid-January.
The frozen road was first discovered by Wang’s father, who has a habit of getting up early every morning to work out.
“At about 6am, my father found the road was covered with ice, with the water still flowing onto the road. At first, he thought the water came from someone else’s home. Not long later, he discovered it was from our home,” Wang told the media.
The father immediately called Wang and asked her to come out to shovel the ice with him.
Wang’s mother bought all the salt in nearby grocery shops.
“The salt was sold out because of us. So if you could not buy salt this morning, I would like to say sorry to you,” said Wang.
“My father scolded me ferociously because he felt ashamed about my behaviour,” she said.
Some property management workers joined in to help remove the ice from the road. No one was injured in the incident.
The story created a buzz on mainland social media.
“She confessed her mistake and her family dealt with the aftermath in a timely manner. I think the community residents should forgive her,” one internet user said.
Another online observer said: “She has saved a salt field.” - South China Morning Post
