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MAGNA — Homeowners in Magna are cleaning up after a sewer blockage caused by what plumbers say was a t-shirt flushed down the toilet.
"Just a lot of clean up, a lot of chaos and stress and worry," said homeowner, Tammy Brinkerhoff.
The sewer backup happened at nine Magna homes near 7200 West and 3000 South on New Year's Eve. Instead of celebrating the beginning of the new year, Brinkerhoff was assessing the damage to her home.
Brinkerhoff has already spent around $2,000 to clean up the sewage in her basement. The Magna Water District said that its insurance company has representatives at all nine homes that were affected to assess damage and liability.
But the district is also suspicious of the cause of the backup. They say that a t-shirt should have clogged a toilet before it got down to the sewer.
"It's unknown right now, other than we had a couple finished bedrooms and we have to replace the flooring and some sheet rocking," Brinkerhoff said. "So we don't know the extent of the damage yet."
But the district is also suspicious of the cause of the backup. They say that a t-shirt should have clogged a toilet before it got down to the sewer.
"All it takes is that getting hooked, snagged up on a piece of pipe and then it builds from there," said the general manager of Magna Water District, Brent Williams. "That might have just been the initial cause of it, and then everything else just backed up behind that."
Whatever the cause, the damage has been done. Brinkerhoff doesn't know how long it will take to clean up the mess, but she's happy she has insurance coverage.
"Luckily, our insurance company will pay a certain amount to a certain point, so we have a little bit of leeway that way," she said. "But I know some neighbors don't have that luck."
Williams expects to receive a report from the insurance company sometime next week.
