Flooded with complaints

While returning from a trip in August, Catherine Schillaci was unaware of what was about to greet her at home sweet home.

Water had seeped from the toilet in her downstairs bathroom, flooding her entire basement. Some of the more expensive items that were damaged included her walls, rugs and a couch.

"I can’t use the downstairs now," said Schillaci. "It has to be repaired."

Complaints like these are resonating throughout the area, as homeowners say they are, quite literally, knee-deep in despair due to recurring basement flooding.

Citing a season with record-breaking storm surges and a city equipped with faulty sewage systems, residents have their own theories as to why the flooding has occurred. Yet, they are unsure of why it continues.

Schillaci, for example, said her basement flooded again three weeks ago.

"This house has been in my family for 80 years," said the resident of the 1100 block of Porter Street. "Before these incidences, there has never been any water downstairs."

Mold has accumulated on her downstairs bathroom walls, forcing her to relocate the basement’s contents.

"Everything that was in my basement is now on the first floor of my house," Schillaci said.

While the area’s recent damaging storm systems are seen as a culprit, residents also blame defective sewer systems.

"It seems like if we get a strong concentration of rain, the sewers can’t handle it," said Steve Biello, of the 1500 block of Tasker Street.

Biello’s basement — also flooded twice this year — collected some 2 feet of water that also leaked from a toilet after excessive rain.

"In the 12 years I’ve lived here, I’ve never had any problems like this before," said the exasperated resident, also a sergeant in the Police Department’s South Detective Division.

As a result of the floods, he had to rip out basement closets, replace drywall and dispose of his children’s damaged clothes and toys, he said.

As water levels in area basements continued to rise, so did the number of theories surrounding the flooding.

Biello and some of his neighbors pointed to a recently repaired sewer system in the area.

"We stood by as it took [the city] a year and a half to fix the sewage system," he said. "Residents were saying they used pipes that were too small."

Schillaci blames the city for not properly maintaining sewers and clogged storm drains. Increased development could add to the flooding problem, she noted.

"The city is expanding," said Schillaci, 40. "They’re building all of these new properties but not putting in adequate sewer lines to accommodate them."

Schillaci’s plumbers told her that clogged sewer lines caused her basement’s flooding.

She recently contacted city officials about the problem and was told she could call quarterly to have her block’s sewer cleaned.

But Schillaci maintains it’s the city’s responsibility to monitor the sewer’s condition.

"Why should it be my job to make these quarterly phone calls?" she posed.

The Philadelphia Water Department manages the city’s sewer system and aims to clean the 75,000 storm drains at least once a year, said department spokesperson Joan Przybylowicz.

Residents should inform the department of any clogged drains in order to prevent flooding from occurring, she added.

Przybylowicz dismissed the claim that the flooding is due to increased development or inadequately sized sewer systems.

"Our sewer systems are sized according to industry standards," she said.

The main cause of the flooding has been the exorbitant amounts of rainfall in the area this year, Przybylowicz maintained.

"There was so much rainfall in a short period of time. It was just more water than the system could handle."

Local residents have complained to the Water Department, she said, but video taken inside the sewers revealed no obstructions.

The sewer maintenance division then took the complaints and found only typical accumulated debris "and nothing out of the ordinary," according to Przybylowicz.

Homeowners without flood insurance were in luck, as representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency paid them a visit. Some residents, including Biello, already received relief funds for flood-related damages.

In August, FEMA logged 8,201 phone calls from residents seeking disaster aid in Philadelphia County, said Susan Greatorax, agency spokesperson.

The bureau has administered $6.2 million in housing and other needs-assistance grants after the August disaster declaration. Another $603,000 was dispensed for September’s disasters, Greatorax said.

Uninsured homeowners who were victims of the September floods can contact FEMA through Nov. 18 to apply for aid.

Meanwhile, residents like Schillaci just want the floods to cease so they can renovate and move on.

"My house is a mess," she said. "All of the items in my basement are now in the middle of my living room. It’s horrible."

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If flooding has occurred in your home, report the incident to the Philadelphia Water Department at 215-685-6300. Register for disaster assistance by calling FEMA at 800-621-FEMA.