A sewage backup three weeks ago forced a North Texas woman out of her home, and on Tuesday morning, it happened all over again.
Rosie Harrist has owned the house on the 4100 block of Arroyo Trail for 44 years, but it is now covered in raw sewage and uninhabitable until the mess is cleaned up.
"I'm darn near 90-years-old. I can't go anywhere else," said Harrist. "I want to stay here. It's terrible."
The first time around, a city of Lake Worth crew lifted a manhole near Harrist's house. The crew snaked the line and found a trophy caught in the sewer line. On Tuesday, the city said the blockage was caused by a two-inch residential PVC pipe with paper towels wrapped around it.
In an email to NBC 5, Lake Worth City Manager Brett McGuire wrote:
"Obviously, that size/type of PVC and adaptor is not used on the City's part of the sewer system so we are presuming that it got into the main from a residential customer. These things are coming from somewhere so we will be sending a camera down the line to see if there is anything else of that size lurking in that section of the line."
Harrist doesn't have sewer backup coverage. As a result, her insurance company denied her claim.
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A claim field with the Texas Municipal League Intergovernmental Risk Pool, the insurer for the city of Lake Worth, was denied because "damages and/or injuries you are alleging were not caused by any wrongful act, omission or negligence on the part of Lake Worth or any of its employees."
A GoFundMe account has been established to help Harrist pay for cleanup and repair.
