Yes. Drain emergencies are dispatched around the clock, and they are among the calls where response time genuinely matters — because a backing-up sewer line is actively putting wastewater into your building while you wait.

What Counts as an Emergency

Not every slow drain needs a midnight call. These do.

Sewage backing up into fixtures. Wastewater coming up through a tub, shower, or floor drain means the main line is blocked. It is a health hazard and it gets worse with every gallon the household uses.

Multiple fixtures backing up at once. This points to the main lateral rather than a branch, and it means nothing in the house can drain safely.

A toilet overflowing that will not stop. Shut the supply valve at the wall first, then call.

Water where it should not be. Standing water in a crawlspace, water coming up through a slab, or a wet spot spreading in the yard along the sewer run.

Sewage odour indoors. Beyond unpleasant, it indicates a break or a dry trap letting gases in.

For a business, add any backup during operating hours — a restaurant with a blocked line is closed, and that is an emergency by any definition.

What to Do Before We Arrive

Stop using water. Every flush, every load of laundry, every dishwasher cycle adds to what is backing up. Tell everyone in the house.

If a toilet is overflowing, shut its supply valve. If the backup is spreading, shut the main water supply.

Keep people and pets away from the affected area — sewage is a genuine health hazard, not just a mess.

Do not pour chemical drain cleaner into a line that is already backed up. It will sit there, it will not clear the blockage, and it makes the line dangerous for whoever opens it.

If you can safely locate your exterior cleanout, knowing where it is saves time when we arrive.

What Usually Causes an After-Hours Backup

Main line blockages are the common cause, and they usually have a history — a line that had been draining slowly for weeks before it stopped entirely.

Root intrusion is frequent in older Hill Country properties with clay laterals. Live oak and pecan roots find separated joints reliably.

Grease accumulation is the other big one, and it tends to fail during heavy use — holidays, gatherings, the days when the kitchen runs hardest.

Flushed wipes are the most preventable cause. Products marketed as flushable do not break down, and they catch on anything already in the line.

What Happens on the Call

First priority is stopping the backup and restoring flow, so the building is usable again.

Then we determine whether that is the whole answer. A line that has backed up once will back up again if the cause is structural, and clearing it without knowing why is a temporary fix.

Where warranted, we camera the line — either during the same visit or scheduled promptly after. A sewer camera inspection distinguishes a soft blockage from root intrusion, a bellied section, or a collapse, and it locates the problem precisely.

Emergency Versus Proper Repair

We are honest about which one you are getting.

Sometimes an after-hours call ends with the line fully cleared and nothing further needed. Sometimes it ends with flow restored and a real repair scheduled for daylight, which is the right sequence — you do not want excavation happening at 2 a.m.

Depending on findings, that follow-up might be hydrojetting, a targeted main sewer line repair, or replacement.

Reaching Us

The same number covers drains, plumbing, and HVAC at any hour. Our 24/7 emergency plumbers handle supply-side emergencies, and drain cleaning covers the rest.

Call (830) 468-5316 or contact 72 Degrees.