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UPDATE: Displaced residents back in apartment after sewage flood
A team from the Water and Sewerage Department performed cleaning duties and restored the apartments over the past few days, allowing the residents to return after the incident occurred.
At least five residents were displaced when the sewage reportedly invaded rooms in the two apartments located in the vicinity of RiteWay on January 13, 2014.
Residents told this news site that they were unable to determine the source of the sewage and indicated that they were given no explanations by the Water and Sewerage Department.
The residents were accommodated at a nearby city hotel following the incident, but it remains unknown whether all the residents of the two apartments have returned.
Several attempts to contact Acting Director of the Water and Sewerage Department, Ms. Perline Scatliffe-Leonard proved unsuccessful up to post time.
See previous story posted January 14, 2014:
Raw Sewage floods RT home!
- Occupants offered alternative accommodation at city hotel
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – A freak accident displaced several persons from the comfort of their home in Road Town last evening, January 13, 2014, when the house they shared became flooded with a rush of raw sewage.
According to reports, one of the residents was called with the news while still at work yesterday, that the apartment she shared with several others in the vicinity of RiteWay in Fleming Street, suddenly became flooded with raw sewage.
The incident reportedly occurred around 1:00 p.m. and according to reports, at least five persons in two separate apartments have been affected by the mishap.
“The whole house [is] full of $#!t… everything… from the bathroom to the toilet. When I say it’s full… it’s full,” the resident related.
Residents reported the incident to the Water and Sewerage Department and a team eventually arrived to perform a clean-up operation. The team reportedly continued operations up to late last evening.
The resident related that this is the first time an incident of this nature had occurred but could not accurately disclose the source of the sewage that flooded the apartments.
According to the resident, each of the tenant was offered accommodation at a city hotel for two nights following the displacement.
Attempts to contact Ag Director of the Water and Sewerage Department, Ms. Perline Scatliffe-Leonard, for comment on the incident, proved unsuccessful up to post time.
Virgin Islands News Online will bring an update on the situation as new information becomes available.
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36 Responses to “UPDATE: Displaced residents back in apartment after sewage flood ”
When people are hurting and upset, the Supervisors in charge do very little to ease their feelings. Not even a kind word, which would at least sooth the situation a little, but they don't care, so why are they in these positions? This director is never available for comment in any story I have read. Just another pay check and do nothing to help the situation. You and I know with that sewerage coming in, that the residents, even after W&S so called cleaned it, they have to go in with gloves and masks to really sanitize the place.
"The assumption must be that potential pathogens are present in the contamination. Such microbial contamination includes bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites. Table 1 lists the microflora that may be found in raw, untreated sewage and the diseases that these organisms have the potential to cause (3). Also, hypersensitivity lung disease has been shown to be caused by repeated flooding of homes with sewer water (4). The routes of exposure of the building occupants to these pathogens are contact, ingestion, and inhalation. An incomplete or inadequate job of cleaning and disinfection may leave residue that can be a substrate for disease-causing microorganisms. Occupants may be infected by contacting contaminated surfaces, with inadvertent transmission from hands to mouth, or aerosolization of contamination may result in the inhalation of microorganisms or their products (e.g., endotoxins). Residue and microbial contaminants also can be tracked by occupants' feet to other parts of the building.
Highly porous (permeance factor >10) materials that have been exposed to sewage backflow and have a value that exceeds the cost of restoration such as high-value rugs and carpet, upholstery, and other textiles should be removed and restored off site. Highly porous materials with low cost or replacement value, such as carpet cushion, carpet, cardboard, tackless strip, wicker, and straw, should be removed and discarded as soon as possible. Other materials, such as saturated mattresses and cloth upholstery, regardless of value, cannot be restored and should be discarded. If disposal is necessary, these materials should be bagged in plastic for removal to a proper disposal site. • Semiporous (permeance factor of >1 to 10) materials, including items such as linoleum, vinyl wall covering and upholstery, and hardboard furniture, along with construction materials such as wood, painted drywall, and plaster, should be cleaned, disinfected, or replaced as part of the initial restoration process. If these materials are not removed or properly disinfected, they can become reservoirs for growth of microorganisms. • Nonporous materials (permeance factor ≤1) such as Formica™, linoleum, vinyl, and tile finishing materials can be inspected for subsurface contamination with a nonpenetration moisture meter. Although these materials may be rated as nonporous, they must be evaluated carefully because contamination can migrate from the perimeter and become trapped below the surface. If migration of contamination below the surface has not occurred, these materials may be fully restored