MELROSE, MASS. (WHDH) - Several families are working hard to put the pieces of their homes back together after a “tornado of poop” came spilling out of their toilets in June.
Mayor Gail M. Infurna met with residents of Brazil Street to tell them the city will pay for hotel accommodations until July 15 but those impacted say their homes will not be move-in ready for weeks to come.
Three weeks have passed since the sewage backed up into four homes in the same neighborhood and so far only one house is clean enough to live in.
“We are working 24/7 on this so that we can expedite these residents to get their lives back into, you know, a good place,” Infurna said.
In one of the other homes, sewage flowed down into a heating pipe where it now remains.
“What needs to happen is like a plumber or someone needs to come in and dig up the concrete so that they can remove the vent so that they can clean it,” homeowner Silvana Ortiz said.
City officials blame the incident on a crew that was trying to clear a blocked line. An outside firm has been hired to determine how the line got clogged in the first place.
“What we know is that there were roots in the pipe, there was an accumulation of grease in the pipe and an accumulation of debris, ” John Scenna Director of the Department of Public Works said. “All which led to the block.”
The city did pay for the initial clean up and so far, has footed the bills for three weeks of hotel stays for the four families.
Come July 15, that support will end even if construction work to replace bathrooms and floors has not.
“Because the city has limited financial resources, it simply is not able to continue to pay for emergency housing while it now works with its insurance company,” Deputy Mayor Rob van Campen said.
After next week, people who live in those homes will have to contact their own insurance companies to make claims for repairs and hotel costs.
The Ward 15 Alderman is calling on city officials to not only extend the hotel deadline but also, hire an environmental inspector to check the air quality inside the homes.
Residents say that all they want now is to get on with their lives and move back into their homes.
“At this point I am just exhausted with the whole thing,” Ortiz said.
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