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City Mistake Leads To Possible Contamination In Homes

Wednesday, August 25, 2004 – updated: 5:13 pm EDT August 25, 2004

Ten families in Winter Springs are finally getting some action, and some advice, after the city's sewers backed up into their homes. An industrial hygienist is now checking their homes for contaminants.

Wendy Mize points out one of the places sewage was coming from.
The homeowners say the city is taking the blame, but doing little to help them. A team of insurance and biohazard inspectors came Wednesday to see how bad things really are. Little swabs and lab tests will soon determine if 10 homes are still fit to live in.

A sewage blunder shortly after Hurricane Charley backed up toilets and drains so badly that the environmental hygienist was called in to check the damaged homes.

"It spewed up out of the drain," explains Wendy Mize as she recounts the night her home flooded with raw sewage. A little over a week later, half of her home is disassembled.

"We estimate we have from $25,000 to $27,000 in damage from the black water contamination," says Mize.

The city turned of its pump stations during the hurricane. When they turned them back on, it was done in the wrong order. So, instead of sending the sewage out of the homes, it went into the homes.

Now the affected families say the city is only making matters worse. They say city leaders have done little or nothing to help fix the problems they created.

City leaders wouldn't talk on camera Wednesday. But, they said, they're working with their insurance companies to find out what assistance they can provide. Meanwhile, they've offered the families a two-week stay in a hotel.

Test results on the homes should be back in about two days.

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