Most-clogged U.S. cities revealed ahead of 'Brown Friday'

Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Plumbers in the United States are preparing for "Brown Friday," the busiest day of the year for their profession, and one analysis suggests Los Angeles is likely to be the most-clogged city.

The country's plumbers refer to the day after Thanksgiving as "Brown Friday" as it is consistently the busiest day of the year, averaging 50% more calls than the average Friday.

Plumbing company Roto-Rooter said the main culprits are clogs in kitchen sinks, toilets and garbage disposals.

An analysis by website Yelp analyzed patterns of plumbing-related online data and found searches for "emergency plumbing" surged by 65% during Brown Friday in 2023, compared to searches from two weeks prior to Thanksgiving and data from two weeks after he holiday.

Yelp dubbed Los Angeles to be the "clogged capital" of the United States, with plumbing-related searches surging by 73% on Brown Friday, followed by Miami with an increase of 37%.

Nashville was next with a search increase of 26% followed by Sacramento, Calf., with a 24% increase, and Baltimore with a search spike of 23%.

Roto-Rooter offered some advice for avoiding Thanksgiving-weekend plumbing catastrophes, including keeping fats and cooking oils away from the sink, wiping grease out of pots and pans with a paper towel before washing them, and not putting potential clog-causing foods such as poultry skins, celery, fruit and potato peels down the garbage disposal.