Shawnee County District Judge Franklin R. Theis heard testimony Wednesday in the bench trial of a lawsuit being pursued against the city of Topeka by a woman whose home became infiltrated with sewage on May 7, 2007, a day that saw considerable flooding here.
Theis made plans to hear closing comments beginning at 1:30 p.m. Thursday in the suit that attorneys for Heather Reynolds filed against the city in April 2009 seeking damages in excess of $75,000.
Testimony began Wednesday morning in the trial regarding the suit, which contends Reynolds' home at 3123 S.W. Munson Ave. became infiltrated with sewage because of the city's failure "to properly plan, inspect, maintain, repair or upgrade as necessary, the sanitary sewer system" serving that home.
Her petition contends Reynolds suffered "significant real and personal property damage, discomfort, annoyance, inconvenience, endangerment of health, loss of use of her real and personal property, loss of peace of mind associated with the interference and enjoyment of her property, diminution in the value of her real property, loss of income, and had her home stigmatized."
Deputy public works director Mike McGee acknowledged in June 2007 that sanitary sewers backed up into about 100 homes in Topeka on May 7, 2007, after 9 to 11 inches of rain fell over 36 hours on already saturated soil. McGee said the rising groundwater submerged some sanitary sewer mains and high volumes of water got into the sanitary sewer system for reasons that included cracks in the pipes.
McGee said the city's sanitary sewer system wasn't built to withstand rainfall of the magnitude that caused the May 7 backups because taxpayers in Topeka couldn't afford to pay for a system that had that capability, and he didn't know of any cities that did.
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