HOUSTON – The Heritage Apartment residents are dealing with feces after sewage water spilled into their homes from the upper Brays wastewater treatment plant after it was underwater and offline.
“It’s gross. I got feces, furniture (and) everything, completely gutted,” Kathy Pourmashiha said.
Pourmashiha said there was sewage water flooding her apartment.
“There’s water sewage coming up like a water fountain. It’s bad. I lost everything,” she said.
When Hurricane Harvey hit Houston, the Upper Brays wastewater treatment plant was underwater and offline, which meant the sewage was backed up.
In the apartment’s parking garage, workers were trying to clean a little Friday in ankle-deep feces.
Manager Jameela Whitfield had every door and entrance sealed to contain the horrendous smell.
“It was nauseating. I can’t even describe it,” Whitefield said.
The Houston Public Works Department has been trying to catch up by sending a truck to the apartments to manually vacuum the sewer lines.
“There’s breakdowns whether it’s on the street at the plant. (They’re) not moving fast enough,” Lisa Calfee said.
The complex rented their own pump and removed some of the sewage from their garbage, but until the plant is fixed, the feces will continue to flow into the complex again.
“(With) them touching, breathing (and) could be in the vents. (This could result in) immediate and long term effects too,” Pourmashia said. “We have nothing. I have one bag of clothes --- devastating to see everything gone.”
