Posted on 10/14/2005 12:26:05 PM PDT by Abathar
MUNCIE, Ind. -- City crews cleaning out sewers accidentally blew raw sewage and roots into a home, covering the walls and floors. Now the homeowners are looking for someone to pay for the cleanup.
Maintenance crews on Sept. 26 answered an emergency call of a backed-up sewer down the street from Garry and Ruth Dailey's home.
Crews opened the line and the pressure backed up sewage and roots into the drains in the Daileys' home, said Nancy Williams, assistant superintendent of the city's sewer maintenance department.
"It is something that we did not intentionally do," Williams said.
That it seems to have been an accident was not much comfort to the Daileys who say neither their homeowner's insurance company nor the city's will cover the costs of cleaning up the damage.
"It has been a nightmare for all of us," Garry Dailey said.
Mike Rost, sanitary district administrator, said the district offered to help clean up the mess but initially did not take any responsibility for the incident.
The Daileys came to a meeting of Muncie's Board of Sanitary Commissioners this week looking for help after spending $8,200 to clean up their home. They home also needs more repairs and the Dailey want the air tested to ensure there is no mold or bacterial contamination.
"We don't have a lot of faith in anyone," Garry Dailey told the board. "Nobody wants to step up to the plate."
Jonna Reece, sanitary board president, said the district tries "to keep the sewer lines clean."
"But we also look at this on a case-by-case basis," she added.
Reece and other sanitary board members turned the problem over to their attorney to review the insurance liability and advise on how to settle it.
Well, that's just sh!tty.
Then he sniggered and elbowed his friend, who winked at him slyly.
Well, that's good!
Puts me in the mind of a time right after we'd bought our house (October 2002). I came home from a long weekend of Renfest, and my tub needed to be grouted so I was bathing in the upstairs one while the Guy went and got dinner.
I'm enjoying my bath, minding my bidness, when I hear him come in . . . put dinner down . . . say, "What the-", bolt upstairs, and demand what I'm doing.
I said, "I'm taking a bath."
He said, "Well, stop! The drains are all backing up downstairs!"
Seems our sewer line was blocked (by a Time Warner cable that was drilled straight through the center of it), and sewage was coming back up through both downstairs commodes, into the washer and dishwasher, and in all the sinks.
UGH.
Oh, they'll pay. This has been tested a number of times, and the sewer district always has to pay if they caused the backup through their work.
They should just take care of it without question. They pressurized a sewer line an blew crap inside these nice folks' house. It's their fault, 100%.
Same thing happened to my dad's house in South Jersey. The town picked up the cleanup bill to preclude a huge law suit.
And they are surprised? This implies they originally had faith that someone would step up, take responsibility and clean it up. Doesn't happen, especially when Gov't is the culprit.
Why bring lawyers into this? They made the mess, let them clean it up.
This stinks, I say sue them until money squirts out of the city like sh*t out of a goose.
These poor folks were wiped out by sewer workers. What a waste. Man-ure going to think this is offal. I hope urine a hurry to get to this thread.
Yuck, Xena! I'll bet the Time Warner folks had some sheepish grins on their faces. If they didn't pay, you should go after them with that sword of yours.
I agree. Whether is was an accident is irrelevant (except, of course, that if it had been deliberate, the homeowners could have sued for big money!).
Call it Performance Art and get an NEA grant.
Then they should turn off the big screen TV(s).
Holy sh*t batman!
Call the team from "Dirty Jobs"!
At least it was your own sewage that you had to clean up, I have had a septic tank back up in my home years ago, it was a mess but at least it was MY mess. Somehow it would just be so much worse if it was the slob who lived 3 doors down who's turds got splattered on your walls...yuck.
And the difference between this and the average batchelor's bathroom is......?
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