Telford estate flooded with raw human sewage

Water company Severn Trent has apologised after the flooding in Deepdale, Hollinswood, which occurred when teams tried to clear the blockage, only to send foul-smelling water back up through a manhole cover.

The water also came up through one resident's toilet, flooding the downstairs of his house with raw sewage.

It also ran into people's gardens, a garage and contaminated a car.

The area has since been given a thorough clean-up, Severn Trent said.

Sarah-Jayne O'Kane, the water company's media and customer engagement officer, apologised for what had happened to the affected householders.

She said: "We were called out to a blocked sewer, which our teams worked hard to try and clear using a jet of high pressured water. This is what we would normally do.

"The blockage turned out to be more serious than we'd anticipated and so when we tried to clear it, instead of breaking up as we'd expect, it pushed the sewage in the pipe back up the system and out of the nearest manhole.

"This unfortunately caused some flooding to the nearby area.

"We totally understand that having to deal with sewer flooding, and the consequences of that, is one of the worst things that can happen to you and we'd like to say how sorry we are to anyone affected.

"We're working with those customers that were disrupted and a thorough clean-up has been done."

Ms O'Kane said the flooding, which happened at lunchtime on June 8, illustrated why people should take care when disposing of household waste.

"Seventy-five per cent of the 55,000 sewer blockages we clear each year are caused by sewer misuse – where items such as fat and wipes are put down the sink or toilet," she said.

"They very easily get caught in the cold sewer pipes where fat will solidify quickly and when mixed with wipes, can become as hard as concrete, blocking the sewer pipe.

"As people in the surrounding area continue to use sinks, showers and toilets, that sewage has to go somewhere and will back up in the network and come out of the nearest manhole, as we've seen in this case.

"We'd like to ask everyone to put fats, oil, grease, wipes nappies and any other sanitary items into a bin, and not into the sewers."