COVINGTON, Ky. — Euclid Avenue in Covington is a pretty, quiet, residential street lined with well-kept homes.
Except when the weather gets rough; then the streets flood with raw sewage.
"These people have been through this three times in the last 10 years -- losing everything," said Mark Alexander, a resident on the otherwise calm street in Covington.
For years, homeowners on Euclid Avenue have woken up to find that heavy rains caused the sewer lines to back up, flooding the street and basements with sewage water.
"The city addressed it by putting in a new, big sewer," said Alexander. "That was back in '82. The fact that they said it was addressed, obviously wasn't. And it's been happening three times in the last 10 years, from what I hear from people."
In 2013, the street witnessed major flooding, with damaged homes sparking outrage throughout the neighborhood. Covington city leaders gathered to meet with sewer officials to address the issue, and some neighbors filed claims with Covington's Sanitation District 1 for damages suffered.
However, the utility's insurer claimed the city's old sanitation system is not designed to handle an unusual rain event, and the company determined SD1 did not cause or contribute to the damages.
"I think the city and SD1 need to take a serious look at what is causing when it rains heavily, how can we prevent this from happening again?" said Alexander.
Neighbors remember fighting SD1 on these issues many times over the years, but they say nothing has been done to make the situation better.
In the meantime, the city of Covington will have dumpsters placed throughout the neighborhood Monday morning for neighbors to use to throw away any belongings destroyed by the sewage backup.
WCPO reached out to SD1 for comment, but haven't yet heard back.
