A furious Victoria, B.C., homeowner says the city needs to “step up” after recent roadwork by a municipal contractor led to a smelly mess.
“There is literally poop in my crawlspace,” Tiffany Webber told Global News.
“It’s a health risk. The people that live in my house, their daughter is experiencing respiratory issues. They made a mistake and they need to own the mistake.”
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Webber discovered the problem on the weekend when her tenants phoned and reported an unpleasant smell.
She initially thought it was a dead rat, and called a pest removal company to investigate.
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“When they opened up the crawl space, the sewage flooded out, and just the smell barrelled out,” she said.
Webber called in her contractor who checked the home’s outflow pipes, only to discover they were no longer connected to the city mainline.
That, she said, was the result of work a city contractor did in December — in which they failed to cut connections to her house and at least several others on the street.
She’s since had to pull out all the insulation from the crawl space under the house and is worried the liquid sewage might have frozen during the cold snap and caused cracks in her foundation.
In a statement, the City of Victoria acknowledged the “inconvenience and distress” caused by the incident, and said it was working with the contractor to “resolve these issues.”
“Residents who have experienced any damage are encouraged to notify their insurance providers if they have coverage,” it said.
“Property insurers are equipped to respond with emergency restoration services that will put a home back into its original condition and liaise with insurers for responsible parties.”
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Residents are also able to submit claims for damages to the city, it added.
Webber said her tenants have been left to bear the consequences of the backup, and that other than telling her to file a claim, the city has done essentially nothing to improve the situation.
She wants to see a more proactive approach.
“It’s like living in a porta-potty. The city has only offered them one night in a hotel,” she said.
“The city should be offering them — out of pure goodwill, they made a mistake — we’ll cover your rent this month and next month, we’ll get you in a hotel, how about we get you some steam cleaning?”
She added that she wants the city to take responsibility for any damage and remediation necessary for the house itself.
