Sue Jensen was planning for a fun and relaxing Fourth of July holiday.
But when she walked down the basement steps to her laundry room at 7 that holiday morning, she stepped into three inches of water.
"I was thinking it was rainwater," she said initially. "But there wasn't any rain."
Her fast-acting plumber found otherwise.
"He told me to 'Get out. It's sewage!' Jensen said.
So started Jensen's two-year ongoing battle with the city for what turned out to be two sewer backups the same holiday weekend in 2008.
The initial backup occurred and affected Jensen and several other homes around Grand Island Christian School at Five Points, said Grand Island Public Works Director Steve Riehle.
City crews came out immediately on July 4 and installed a temporary line above ground, but the line was undersized and resulted in a second sewer backup in Jensen's home on July 6 -- two days after the first backup and after she had finished sanitizing the basement.
Jensen lost two days of work cleaning the damage, received a $700 plumbing bill, incurred $140 in cleaning expenses and a cut on her leg became infected from the exposure. Fixing the damages in the basement, including tearing out cupboards that have molded, will cost another $1,100.
In the grand scheme of things, it's not a lot of money, Jensen said, but neither her insurance nor the city's will pay for the damages.
Her own homeowner's policy lacked a collapsed sewer clause. She has since added it for a cost of $8 a year.
In her basement, she has added a sewer line squeeze plug for $5 and then a backwater valve for $18 to prevent such backups into her home in the future.
What surprised Jensen was that the city's insurance didn't cover the damages for city sewage backing into her home -- a problem she had no way to control.
Riehle said the city has to have been negligent for a payout to occur. The city's insurance carrier, Employers Mutual Casualty Company (EMC), makes the determination.
"Our investigation reveals that a manhole collapsed due to the effect of a rise in the groundwater level from spring rains," said EMC Claims Adjuster Warren Elmore. "Our insured has a manhole inspection plan that it follows.
"The collapse of this manhole was an unfortunate event," Elmore stated. "However, it could not be anticipated. None-the-less our insured responded reasonably to the event."
The same EMC letter was sent to two other homeowners besides Jensen.
Jensen has responded to Elmore and wrote a letter to Mayor Margaret Hornady.
The mayor responded with a five-sentence letter informing her the city's insurance carrier found "no negligence" on the city's part.
City Finance Director Mary Lou Brown said the city has received six sewer backup claims in the last year. All have been denied.
With the city's growing concern for more collapsed sewer lines detailed in a Tuesday night city council study session, Grand Island homeowners are being urged to be prepared.
"Check your homeowner's policy," Riehle said.
"Every homeowner should be aware of the potential problem," Jensen said.
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