TOLEDO, Ohio — Point Place homeowners may experience backups or water in their basements for the next few days following a blockage found along 131st Street and Ottawa River Road on Thursday.
"They said, 'we're having some problems down the street but it's blocked somewhere, so we need to find out where it's blocked' and of course, it's blocked in front of my house," said Diane Never, who lives off of Ottawa River Road.
Never said the city began work on her yard on Thursday to locate the issue in the sewage lines.
"If it's something that can be fixed where I don't have any backup in my basement, then you know, I have no choice, but the city is doing what they're supposed to I guess," Never said.
Calvin Harris, sewage and drainage commissioner, said the source of the problem was due to a collapsed main line, which indicated a blockage somewhere in the pipe.
"Once we found out we couldn't unplug it, that same day we had a pump set up in that location to keep the sanitary main water down inside the manhole to get it back down to the channel," Harris said.
Now, a 21-foot hole resides in Never's yard, along with three pumps to maintain the problem.
Harris said the current equipment is over 100 years old and will need two separate repairs, including a deep clean.
"If any debris got into the main (pipe) from it collapsing, we're going to clean that, we're going to the camera that and then we're going to go down and start the other repair," he said.
Never said despite her yard being torn apart, she'd rather have that than a ruined basement.
"Just so I don't have a (sewage) backup, I hope it's all fixed. That's all I care about," she said. "I can't imagine what it would be like. I'm sure, especially with sewage backup, I'm sure they (people) would have to buy a lot of bleach."
Harris told WTOL 11 that homeowners should begin seeing improvements within the next two to three days and that the city is actively working on solving any issues homeowners may have.