Residents seek help from city after sewer overflow
By Rochelle Moore
Published in News on March 9, 2017 9:39 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Maria and Mary O'Tuel stand in front of their home on Brookwood Lane Tuesday holding a letter that says the city of Goldsboro is not liable for the sewer waste that backed up and flooded the house last Tuesday. The waste has contaminated their home, making it unfit to live in and even dangerous to enter without the proper equipment. The mother and daughter have been displaced with Maria's children Luca, 13, and Chloe, 5, ever since and hope to get help cleaning what was caused by a clogged city sewer pipe.
Maria O'Tuel bent over in her bathroom collecting raw sewage into cooking pots as it gushed out of the toilet for nearly two hours.
"The toilet overflowed profusely, and it continued to overflow profusely for an hour and 40 minutes," O'Tuel said. "It was like an ugly, continual waterfall.
"It was all over our floor, and it went down into our duct system. I was foolishly down there trying to clean up things with my shammy not realizing quite what I was touching. At that moment of panic, we didn't know what diseases we were exposed to. We were just trying to do whatever we could."
Saving the two-story Brookwood Lane home, which her mother, Mary O'Tuel, has owned almost 40 years, was a priority, as well as working to fix an elusive problem.
At first glance, the sewer overflow appeared to be a problem in the house plumbing, but it was much bigger. They contacted a private plumber, but there was only so much that could be done.
"The plumbers, after an hour and 40 minutes, diverted it from overflowing in our home," she said. "They diverted it outside, but it continued to flow. Our plumbers could do nothing. It was daunting."
A friend mentioned that the problem may actually be in the city of Goldsboro's sewer lines, which a plumber couldn't touch.
A city water crew arrived first and shut off water to the house. The crew was followed by a second, which arrived with a large jet vac truck. Public utility workers slid a jet rodder, high-pressure hose down the manhole and were able to break up the blockage, which stopped the sewer from gushing onto O'Tuel's property, said Rick Fletcher, Goldsboro interim public utilities director.
"Our guys went out and responded as soon as she called," Fletcher said. "It was not between her house and the sewer tap. It was in the sewer line from a blockage."
Fletcher said the pipe could have been clogged by grease, a common problem in municipal sewer systems, Fletcher said.
The raw sewage ended up filling nearly half of the first floor of the house, in the bathroom, laundry room, kitchen, pantry and den, leaving an estimated $20,000 to $30,000 worth of damage.
Much of the mess was cleaned by the O'Tuels, but they cannot live in the house because of contamination.
Mary, Maria and her young children, a 13-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter, have been staying with friends since the sewer spill on Feb. 28.
On Saturday, Mary O'Tuel found a sore on her toe that wasn't there before.
"We went to the ER, and they said she was exposed to bacteria," her daughter said. "We exposed ourselves to all types of diseases.
"While I want my house repaired, the most important is our body. I hope that we don't encounter negative health effects by it."
To make matters worse, they spent nearly a week waiting only to learn that the homeowner policy denied coverage and the city's liability insurance carrier denied any responsibility on the city's part.
O'Tuel received the denial letter on Friday from an adjuster with Alternative Service Concepts working under the city's insurance carrier, State National Insurance, said Kaye Scott, Goldsboro finance director.
"Please be advised that after careful review and consideration of the above referenced claim, on behalf of our client, we must respectfully deny liability in this instance," the adjuster wrote.
"There was no negligence on the part of the insured, therefore, they cannot be held responsible for this loss."
O'Tuel was shocked, discouraged and tired.
"This is not our responsibility," she said. "No private citizen can go clean the manholes. No private plumber can go clean the manholes. This was not a blockage on our property. It was a blockage that only the city could alleviate.
"If it was my responsibility, I could have stopped it. The only party that could stop it was the city."
She said the problem, which happened around 11 a.m., may have been much worse had she not been at home.
City Manager Scott Stevens said the city wasn't found liable because staff would need to be aware of a problem to be responsible for its remedy.
"It's our liability if we know there was a problem, and we didn't fix it," Stevens said. "When we're liable, we pay."
The denial letter led O'Tuel to ask for help from the Goldsboro City Council, Monday.
Mayor Chuck Allen contacted her Tuesday. Allen and Councilman Bill Broadaway met with O'Tuel at the home Wednesday.
"Surely, we can do something to help her," Broadaway said. "Nothing she could have done could have prevented what happened to her. We're going to do everything we can to rectify it from the city's (standpoint)."
Allen and Broadaway asked O'Tuel to contact her insurance company to get a letter that confirms denial of the claim. They also started the process of asking city staff to contact the city's insurance representative.
O'Tuel is also seeking repair and cleanup estimates she will present to city leaders.
Allen said he plans to brief the council on the problem and the council could determine if further action is needed.
"I think there's got to be some middle ground," Allen said. "We're going to do everything we can to help the lady because we believe she's justified in her request for help."
O'Tuel, who said her plight could have been much worse, found a glimmer of hope after the Wednesday meeting.
"Seeing them show concern made me the most hopeful I have been in the eight days since the sewage backup," O'Tuel said. "We hope the city assumes responsibility for the cleanup and restoration of our home."