Chinese Woman's Mistake Accidentally Turns Community Into Ice Rink

A woman in China forgot to turn off her water heater tap after taking a shower, and what happened next has gone viral on social media. The mistake caused a massive leak that turned her residential community into an outdoor ice rink overnight, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. The temperature in Lanzhou had dropped to minus 8 degrees Celsius, freezing the water that flowed from the tank on the roof of her building.

The woman, identified in the report as Wang, released a video on January 16 to apologise to the residents in Lanzhou, Gansu province.

"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 as quoted in the clip. "The skating rink in our community you saw this morning was made by me. I am sorry. I made this mistake."

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The water kept flowing out of the tank for nine hours, and it froze because of the low temperatures. Her father, who usually wakes up early for exercise, discovered the frozen road at 6:00 am (local time) and initially thought the water came from someone else's home.

"At about 6 am, 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," as quoted in the report, Wang told the media.

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Wang's family took immediate action to mitigate the situation, with her mother buying all the salt from nearby shops to melt the ice, while her father and Wang herself helped clear the road.

No one was injured in the incident, and property management workers also joined in to help.

"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."