Overwhelmed Sewers Flood Milwaukee Basements
Saturday, June 20th, 2009Close to 300 homes in the Milwaukee, WI area on Friday afternoon had an unwanted visitor seep in to basements: backed-up sewage. The culprit is the overwhelmed municipal sewer system.
Residents, yet again, have to clean up foul-smelling mess that consisted of storm water and waste. The Milwaukee County medical examiner’s office also has to deal with the stink.
Residents report they have had problems with sewer back-ups in their homes since 2007, when new pipes were installed, and this year has been the worst. A resident says there waste was shooting out of his toilet as if it was a fountain that was supposed to shoot out murky water.
JS Online reports: “The massive amount of water seeped through cracks in the sewer laterals and main pipes, then flowed back into homes, often combining with sewer water. Any blockage in the laterals from homes to the main pipes compounded the problem.”
Some have received up to three feet of water at once since the time this problem began. Many have lost astonishing amounts of personal property that includes water heaters, furnaces, and other appliances that are typically kept on lower levels of a home.
