A city built around 23 miles of shoreline
The Colony holds about 23 miles of Lewisville Lake shoreline inside its city limits, and two peninsulas reach into the water. That puts many homes close to water that can rise and close to drainage that has to carry it away. If your home faces the lake, look up your address on the FEMA map and ask your agent about flood cover.
Rain, runoff and plumbing failures can look alike on a floor, but insurers sort them into different boxes. Rising storm or lake water belongs to flood cover, which is sold apart from a standard home policy, while a burst pipe or broken washer hose is usually a sudden loss. When water arrives, note its source in your first photos.
When water is spreading in The Colony
Water crossing a floor, soaking a ceiling or backing up through a drain is urgent. Emergency dispatch available around the clock includes every Colony night and weekend, and Little Elm crews take the call same day when they can. Once the flow is controlled, phone (972) 945-2885.
Tell dispatch which kind of water you are seeing. Clear water from a supply line is Category 1, discharge from an appliance is Category 2, and sewage or lake and storm water is Category 3 under ANSI/IICRC S500. The category decides what can be dried in place and what has to be removed.
Stay out of any room where water touches outlets, a panel or a gas appliance. Call the utility or 911 about those risks before you call us.
Water spreading in The Colony?
Call the 24/7 line.
Before We Arrive: lakeside and neighborhood checks
Close the main
Test your main valve once a year so it turns when you need it, then close it the moment a supply line fails.
Name the water
Clear pipe water, gray appliance water and lake or street water are three different problems. Tell dispatch which one you see.
Power off only if dry
Cut breakers for wet rooms only if you can reach the panel without stepping in water.
Raise valuables
Lift documents, electronics and keepsakes to counters or upper shelves before the water spreads.
Avoid storm water
Lake, street and sewage water carry contamination. Keep family and pets out of it.
Document for two policies
Photograph the waterline and the source. A flood policy and a homeowners policy treat the same room differently.
A 1970s city, now about 50 years old at the oldest
Fox and Jacobs bought about 3,000 acres around SH 121 and FM 423 in 1973. The first families moved in during October 1974, the city incorporated in January 1977, adopted home rule in 1979 and merged with the lakeside community of Eastvale in 1987.
That puts the oldest homes close to 50 years old. At that age the parts that age out are predictable, namely water heaters, original supply and drain lines, roof coverings and the seals around tubs and showers. If your house dates from the early decades, ask a licensed plumber to inspect the lines you cannot see, and check your closing papers or the county appraisal record for the build year.
This matters for claims, too. Policies usually do not cover gradual leaks or seepage, including the mold that follows them. A weeping joint under a sink that you check every spring is far cheaper to catch than one you find when the cabinet floor goes soft.
Public Works: three divisions and two kinds of phone line
The Colony runs separate water, wastewater and drainage divisions through Public Works and Utilities, each with business-hours and after-hours emergency lines for water and sewer. We do not print numbers here because cities change them, so look them up on the city website and save them in your phone today.
Use the split as triage. Water gushing on the street side of your meter is a water division call. Sewage rising in several fixtures and floor drains at once may point to the city main, which is a wastewater call. Water standing in a street or ditch belongs to drainage.
Water that is inside the house and past the meter is your plumbing, and that is when you close your main and call us.
What the June 2015 lake rise teaches
The 2015 numbers are worth remembering. After record May rainfall and a tropical storm, the lake hit 537 feet in June, five feet over the 532 foot spillway crest.
The practical lesson is timing. A flood-control lake can climb far past normal after weeks of rain, so the time to ask your agent about flood coverage is before the storm season, not while the water is at the door.
Roads and school lines
Our crews reach The Colony on Sam Rayburn Tollway (SH 121) and FM 423. Lewisville ISD and Little Elm ISD split the city between them, so a school name will not tell a dispatcher where you live. Give the street address and the nearest of those two roads.
The Colony services, flood and shoreline first
When lake or storm water enters a home, flood damage restoration is the scope that applies, with extraction, removal of contaminated materials and controlled drying. Once the structure is dry, water damage repair rebuilds drywall, flooring and trim.
A supply line or appliance failure with no outside water is a drying job, where water mitigation uses air movers and LGR dehumidifiers to pull moisture out of framing and subfloor. Damp areas that linger can call for mold remediation under ANSI/IICRC S520. Emergency water removal handles standing water at any hour.
Neighbors in Frisco and Prosper reach the same dispatch line from our Little Elm base.
The Colony, TX on the map
Our dispatch covers The Colony from the Little Elm base.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you cover every ZIP code in The Colony?
The Colony runs on a single ZIP, 75056, and we answer for all of it, covering the city from the SH 121 and FM 423 area to the Lewisville Lake shoreline and both peninsulas.
Is emergency water removal available in The Colony?
Yes, day or night. Say whether the water came from a pipe, an appliance, a sewer line or the lake when you call (972) 945-2885, and a Little Elm crew is sent same day when possible.
Does a flood policy cover a burst pipe in The Colony?
Usually not. A flood policy is aimed at rising water, while sudden pipe failures fall under a homeowners policy. Ask your agent how your own policies divide the two.
Which city line do I call for sewage backing up?
If several fixtures and floor drains back up together, call The Colony's wastewater division and then us. If only one fixture is affected, the blockage is probably in your own line.
Should lakefront owners check the FEMA map?
Yes. Lakeside addresses are the ones most likely to be mapped, and the answer affects whether a separate flood policy is worth discussing with your agent.