SAN DIEGO, Oct. 9, 2000—An estimated 100 residents were forced out of their homes as some 5,000 gallons of sewage gushed out of toilets in an apartment complex at the bottom of a canyon the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego Monday. The sewage, which reached knee level, flooded many of the ground-floor apartments in the 80-unit complex, according to the San-Diego Union Tribune.
Families stuffed what they could into plastic garbage bags and hauled their TVs, bedding and whatever they could salvage out of the wastewater, which likely was the result of sewer blockage downstream from the apartment building.
The San Diego Fire Department responded to calls from the residents, mostly Somalian, and shut off the water. Workers from the city water and sewer departments, as well as the American Red Cross and county health authorities, were working to resolve the problem Monday afternoon.
The city put up an estimated 100 residents, but many residents remained at the complex as crews continued to mop up the mess.
In searching for a blockage in the wastewater pipe, one city employee found a large piece of pottery. The city is using a cable-guided television camera to find more blockage.
The cost of the damage was not immediately known.
For more information, visit the San Diego Union Tribune site at www.uniontrib.com/news.
