After six weeks of maternity leave nursing her third child, Hartwell resident Lauren Emmons got into bed at about 10 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 15 ready to return to work the next day. It should have been a return to normalcy for the nurse and her family of five.
Emmons fell asleep about an hour later and was awakened by her husband Alex around midnight who smelled feces and assumed it was a child.
“He thought that maybe our daughter had [an accident] so he went to change her diaper and instead he stepped into feces,” Emmons said. “He turned the lights on and he noticed that the toilet was overflowing in a volcano of poop. So it backed up and it flooded the bathroom completely.”
In minutes, the flow continued down the hallway and into the dining room and kitchen. Soon the majority of the home at 87 Laurel Street was covered in city sewage.
“The smell was horrific,” Emmons said. “ I had to put my rain boots on and within 15 minutes, we were out of there.
“So my husband Alex — he called the city and they never answered so he got frustrated and called 911 and then they were the ones that actually came and helped us and they got someone [from the city] out there. The city worked on it for hours and they said four manholes were stopped up and feeding into our house.”
City manager Jon Herschell said the public works department indicated that the backup was likely caused by wadded paper and a diaper.
“They had a sewer back up in the middle of the night and what happened was our sewer line got clogged up somehow and we went out there and jetted it to unclog it and it started working again,” Herschell said. “And then we called Servpro and they went and cleaned it up.
“[There was] some type of blockage in the line. This particular house is very low and when you have a backup, it’s going to go to the lowest point. Unfortunately, these people are the lowest house and when it gets backed up, that’s where it goes to. I was also told that our public works people jetted the line a few weeks ago. It’s not like we weren’t doing maintenance on anything.”
Everything that touched sewage needs to be disposed of. Emmons, who rents at 87 Laurel, said the family canceled renter’s insurance to help make up some of the cost during her unpaid maternity leave. Herschell indicated that the owner of the building was without homeowners insurance.
Herschell said the city paid for the Servpro cleanup.
“I had a hotel room lined up for these folks, and the [city liability insurer] said, ‘Don’t do that. You’re not responsible for that.’ I called the Hampton Inn and canceled the room,” Herschell said on Nov. 25.
By Sunday, Nov. 27, multiple city councilmen had contacted Herschell advising him to “put the family up” and the Emmons stayed at Hampton Inn over the weekend.
Emmons said from Tuesday through Thursday, the family was sleeping at her aunt’s house on an air mattress.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Emmons said on Thursday. “I don’t know if I should cry. I just don’t know what to do at this point. I don’t even know what we need. Here it’s Thanksgiving next week and then it’s going to be Christmas. Are we going to be staying in a hotel for Christmas? I’m so upset. I just want to go home.”
Herschell said conversations concerning liability were ongoing by press time Monday and it’s unclear as to when the family can move back into their rented home.
“Not [clear] yet,” Herschell said Monday. “[I] just met with the homeowner and we are working on a game plan to get them back in the home.”
By Monday, a GoFundMe called “Emmons family immediate needs” had raised $2,270 for the family. Herschell said a couple local civic organizations including Rotary of Hartwell had contacted him about helping financially.