Rain causes sewage back-up in neighborhood; crews working to fix issue
BATON ROUGE - The homes in the River Oaks neighborhood in Baton Rouge experience sewage back-up every time it rains.
Residents know that with every rain, toilets, showers and sinks become inoperable.
"I'm tired of dealing with it," resident of Gloria Drive, Chris Johnson, said. "Once I see it's about to start raining, I tell my kids they have to go to the bathroom because no telling when they'll be able to go again."
Sewage flows from manhole covers and sinkholes pop up too.
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"Raw sewage backs up. Can't flush toilets, can't use bathtubs," he said.
Johnson was told there was nothing that could be done until he called 2 on Your Side.
A contractor hired by the City-Parish, Grady Crawford, said it's replacing piping in 17 locations in the area. Crews have completed two of the 17 repairs so far.
The City-Parish will also remove tree roots from the lines as root intrusion has caused pipes to break. A liner will also be installed to prevent the same issues from recurring in the future.
Johnson is hopeful that the work being done will help with the sewage problem he has dealt with for so long.
"It's all we can do," he said.
Crawford says the repairs will be completed in about a month.