(Submitted Photo)
Middle-class owners of 21 homes went though a “special type of hell” this past Sunday. Their basements rapidly filled up with about two feet of raw sewage. This is a nightmare of many working class people who invested in finishing their basements for their young children, overnight guests, and recreational spaces. KCE toured four basements today and spoke with more than a dozen folks affected by this catastrophe.
The common thread? The City isn’t helping us enough. To its credit, the City did arrange for bulk pickups of all of the toys, furniture, keepsakes and other valuable items, that were destroyed. However, every homeowner in Kenosha gets 5 free bulk pickups a year anyway, so it was a gesture that didn’t exactly overwhelm the taxpayers who estimate $10,000 to $75,000 of damage per home. For almost all of those affected, insurance isn’t helping. They then turned to the City for help.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
“The Mayor was on the scene on Sunday when he was notified of this event and met with many of the affected residents. He was also out in the area on Monday speaking with residents. On Sunday afternoon the Mayor contacted me and within a half hour I spoke with the Director of Public Works and set into motion a plan where Public Works would have waste collectors on site Monday morning and throughout this week to collect items that were destroyed and placed by the curb. Water Utility Manager Curt Czarnecki met with 18 of the 21 affected residents on Monday in person. The Kenosha Water Utility continues to investigate the incident to try and determine the cause. Claim forms have been provided to the residents to complete,” said City Administrator John Morrissey.
(Submitted Photo)
Kenosha Water Utility Director Curt Czarnecki told KCE what happened. “Yesterday just before noon, we got our first call of a sewer back up, near the vicinity of 66th Street and 92nd Avenue. When our crews got out there, typical practices, you check the upstream and downstream manholes. Well, they found that the sewer main was [blocked],” said Czarnecki. “So they ended up chasing this down to 94th Avenue, Highway 50 just east of 94th Avenue, which is where they found the blockage.”
Czarnecki said it wasn’t an area that this commonly occurs at. “Our best guess is that, flushable wipes used throughout the surface area upstream of that blockage eventually wrapped together, coagulated together, and the mixture fortified with some of the other stuff, like grease and sediment that’s in the sewage, and it eventually plugged up the line completely,” said Czarnecki. “We are today (now yesterday) going to be doing some more forensics. We televised it after the fact to see if there’s anything suspicious on the pipe or any other things that you can see from the surface that would lead us to believe it’s something different.”
Today, Mrs. H wept as she told us about how her husband’s thousands of dollars of musical instruments and drums were completely destroyed. That her son had most of his clothing destroyed, being taken out of the house in 25 garbage bags. “Our water heater is shot. I’ve been having to shower at the YMCA,” said Mrs. H.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
“I believe the mayor was playing lip service to us, “one woman told KCE. “But when I asked him if the City would be helping us in some way financially, he responded ‘No, sorry. I don’t want to set a bad precedent.’ ” The area affected was Bogdala’s district when he was an Alderman.
Still, City’s Administrator John Morrissey’s words seem to hold some hope for the residents. “There is a process that needs to be followed in reference to claims against the City. There needs to be a complete investigation into the incident. If it is determined that the City was negligent, the insurance company requires a complete investigation and documentation,” said Morrissey to KCE Tuesday. “There are many rumors that restaurants across the street were to blame, this is simply false as they do not connect to that section of piping.”
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
One woman told us that her young children were devastated to see many of their toys being carried out to the curb. Her husband has been working almost non-stop since Sunday to remediate the damage to their basement. She had her first pair of ballet shoes, something priceless to her, covered in water with feces, but she kept them in her garage. “We’re not even being told if it is safe to stay in our homes with the fumes and other health risks.”
The two neighborhoods affected, White Caps and Peterson’s Golden Meadows, are respectively, the neighborhoods where the Mayor and Alderman of the district, Art DeBaere live. Their homes remained unharmed. Many openly speculated that if the mayor and alderman’s homes were also partially destroyed, would the city be doing more?
Today, even more than 48 hours after the life-changing event, there are still piles of rancid-smelling garbage in the street and water remediation trucks lining the streets.
“We liked Bogdala when he was our Alderman, now that he’s the mayor, not so much,” one woman told KCE. “I wonder what he would have done if his basement would have been destroyed. The City is self-insured but also does have separate insurance for things like this.
KCE spoke with a civil attorney who who told us that the homeowners may have a good case for a class action lawsuit. “This will likely be handled in a courtroom,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s the City’s responsibility to keep the utilities functioning properly. They were negligent here, it seems.”
KCE attempted to contact Mayor David Bogdala for comment, and in his usual fashion, he ignored us.
(Submitted Photo)
66 Responses
Dave Bogdala has become useless since he became mayor. I have heard this from plenty of city workers throughout multiple departments of the city. So far I haven’t heard anyone say anything good about him.
Sounds like Bogdala is useless, if his home was affected I’m sure things would different. So sorry those folks that were affected have to deal with this sorry excuse of a Mayor.
Same as the last mayor = worthless
Homeowners affected by this join together in class action, use an out of town attorney with no ties to Kenosha Country.
I really wonder why people are not mentioning the cause of the problem which they say were non-flushable wipes, grease and other hazards thrown into the sewers. Wake up people! It cannot always be fixed by the agency that didn’t cause it!
Wipes, grease, etc are thrown down the drain throughout the city they have no issues , something when wrong with sewers!
AGREED! If you have not eaten it. If it is not TP. NEVER flush it.
Why is it Kenosha’s problem if ones basement floods? Sorry but not everything needs to be fixed with big daddy governments money (our money).
So the basements are full of chit like the mayor
Call your insurance company, not city hall.
The insurance company is not liable for negligence of the sewer system.
There is often a ‘sewer back-up’ endorsement available. Offered it to each & every client when I was an insurance agent.
One more avenue for insurance robbery! It’s up to the city to maintain the sewer system and not wait for a disaster like this to try to blame homeowners or make it their responsibility! Tell them exactly how you feel the next time any of these do nothing’s are up for re election. As for this far right site? It says a lot and on the 13th. Vote NO on both of those amendments that will make your vote null and void! It will enable election deniers to have the power to see to it that the votes are NOT CERTIFIED! Giving the vultures the power to appoint a no body to office with out winning the election!
Thanks for clarifying- I’ll be voting YES.
Homeowners pay for insurance. If damage is caused by the city’s negligence, then the insurance companies can go after the city to recoup what they pay out to their customers.
As mentioned, many insurance companies will only cover a small portion of what is needed to remediate this damage, if at all
My heart goes out to all of these people that were put in this situation.
I hope you find solutions soon.
Would this make news if they were poor.
I think it’d be slightly more newsworthy if they were poor. But these are hardworking middle class people. Do they not deserve justice because they are middle class?
Most of the poor are living off the taxpayers, don’t work and are on Section 8 and rent from the slumlords!!
In White Caps ? You can’t possibly be this stupid, can you ? These people pay $7000 a year in property taxes.
Yes, and for $7K a year they should be getting sewers that don’t back up and destroy their homes.
I hope these poor people are able to get things resolved.
Totally irresponsible maintenance practices.
Especially for a system that is relatively new.
Get sewer backup coverage as a rider on your homeowner’s policy. It’s worth it.
Especially if you have a finished basement!
Bogdala is an attention whore. Sam and him love the photo ops but not the work.
Not true
To the the community members who continuously are being wronged by your very own Politicians. Remember yall have the right to band together, find an lawyer and successfully sue the City of Kenosha, toegther. The same scenario happened in the Southeast side of Kenosha 11 years ago. Find your lawyers !
Bogdala is a piece of shit.
New boss….same as the old boss.
Hey, that’s my line !
He is the same guy who was our alderman. He did nothing then, and he’s doing nothing now. Do you expect anythingaid all kinds of different? He s stuff to get your vote. Now he is saying, “I can’t help.”
Eh…..he got a few votes. No one really voted in the grand scheme of things….he was just the best of the pack apparently to some (which says something about the others because Bogdala is a shitbag).
This is a pretty shitty situation for sure.
You know the ACLU isn’t for hire. They’re busy defending degenerates like Berg and Roberts. Terry Rose might like a shot at filing a class action against the city.
Give him a chance he is working on it.
Guess what there’s people who deal with these types of situations all the time suck it up and do what needs to be done its not life changing its a damn bump in the road its life deal with it! Lets talk about all the construction going on in Kenosha that’s not finished or the sucky roads that are messing up suspension on the cars. Just because their middle class its such a big deal its life folks Life. I feel bad for the families but guess what its ok you’ll live.
And how would you feel if this was your house?? I am sure you would be typing a different comment!! Raw sewage backup is gross and there is nothing that can be salvaged! I feel so bad for these homeowners!! Have had that happen when we lived in Illinois and it sucks!!
Naw not really i been through a hurricane and guess what i was just grateful to be alive all the material things got replaced its material things, it does suck but it aint no life changing event if you call that a life changing event you have a lot of depth searching to do.
says the guy with no empathy wanting to be validated in his opinion
Isn’t this is the same council president who was accused of sexual harrasment to a city worker? How is he still able to continue on?
No that was Jan mikowski
I see a Mayor vs city planner election coming in the next mayoral election. He played the good guy here and bogdala is playing the sorry we can’t help.
Flushable Wipes ?? Why were these things invented ??
If “something” needs a wipe that should go in the toilet rather than the kitchen trash can, then use toilet paper. (Diapers go in the trash, why not these wipes?)
Grease ?? What ever happened to pouring it into the cardboard Minute Maid orange juice containers until it cools and then it goes in the trash ? Oh yeah, nobody mixes their own juice anymore.
Just let the grease cool in the pan and wipe it with a paper towel. Then in the trash.
These “flushable wipes” and cooking grease were never meant to go down the sewer. Never !!
Just like the drain oil from your car. Not down the sewer.
These people are either ignorant or lazy or both.
Like a lot of problems in life, I blame the parents for not training their children on how to live “together” in society.
As for the city ? Offer low or no interest loans to fix and replace the things damaged and lost.
While better monitoring and cleaning of the sewers is probably one answer, not putting thing down them that don’t belong is the first step
Bogdala is a lying snake and just as bad as Antaramian. Fake person. Fake care and concern and all in it for the money. If he can’t handle this issue, what will he do if something really big happens?
I’m also a critic of the Mayor but he is not personally responsible for cutting checks and deals for those affected by the sewer back-up. He came out to console residents and get trash trucks out there. This is a legal matter and last I checked, the mayor is not an insurance company nor is he a lawyer.
According to state statute, he is the chief executive officer of the city CEO. You certainly has the power to pay out claims and he certainly has the power to put something in front of the city council to vote for making these people whole. You are vastly understating his authority
Not sure if some people are aware of this, but when I bought my house a few years ago, State Farm suggested that I add to my homeowners policy coverage for damages that occur underground (front yard for example) in the event of infrastructure failures that aren’t caused by the homeowner (flushing wipes and tampons, pouring grease down the drain, etc.). In this case, I would think if some of these owners have that type of coverage and the insurance company can prove they weren’t flushing stuff like that down the drains, that their Insurance would cover something like this? Just a thought.
With aging infrastructure and things like flushable wipes being flushed, this will continue to happen. Do you think our tax dollars should go to every person this happens to, even though they don’t get the sewer backup rider on their insurance? Where is the personal responsibility?
I agree. Take care of yourself as best you can and don’t count on the government to help at all. Why aren’t people hollering about the dbags who flush things they shouldn’t?
Sewer back up of epic proportions—Smells like liberal socialism.
Bogdala is a lying snake. says anything to get into office. Been lying since he was an alderman. Fake person. Basements are full of shit like him. Fake care and concern and all in it for the money. Bogdala is an attention whore. Loves seeing his wife and himself in the newspaper.
Need to dump truckloads full of sh!t onto the houses of the mayor and a few other people. The public works dept in this city is unbelievable. They don’t know what they’re doing, then, on top of their incompetence, don’t want to fix what they screw up!
Under Bogdala, I guess the neighborhood can now be call White Craps.
OK…..clap clap.
more like crap crap
That is uncalled for! Jerk
You can have a cheesy photo look at me cutting grass someone’s house because their lawn mower broke lol.
Look at me I’m the mayor. I could see if you went out every week and cut grass for seniors people that can’t cut grass. I need my grass cut I’m older senior citizen in my ’70s. You only helps if it benefits him
Channel 4 just had a story on it. The city administrator said it was “unfortunate.”
They didn’t say if they tried to speak to the mayor who should have been the person to speak to the issue.
Yeah the city administrator makes over 200,000 a year. He should come out and help clean up with the mayor.
The mayor should you go help these people clean up. See how he likes it.
I understand he has a college son
He could teach by example.
This video is horrible.
Wait, why should the city be expected to step in and provide financial assistance? Handouts much? Guarantee those neighborhoods trend Red, and now they are asking for the government to bail them out? Not so fast Every homeowner is offered a sewage/sump pump endorsement, and if they chose to be cheap, that’s on them. You can’t have it both ways, nope nope nope.
A basement is a basement.
Thing is, the more Kenosha gets developed the less amount of land is available to soak up rainwater and mediate large rainfall amounts. The sewer system has remained virtually the same over the past few decades and can’t handle the runoff. This runoff eventually causes sewer waste to backup into basements.
The engineers know there’s a problem but they’re unable to fix it. It was this neighborhood this time, it’ll be a different one next time. They can try to ‘redirect’ overflow somewhat so the same basements don’t get flooded every time. This makes it look like “oh, crazy rainfall amounts caused the flooding”. In reality, it’s the increase in cement & asphalt (think huge parking lots) maxing out the current infrastructure.
No one it’s talking about the neighborhood around 60th and Pershing. Our basement flooded back in July with the heavy rain and it caused tens of thousands of dollars of damages and the plumber diagnosed the problem as city infrastructure. We learned that there were over 20 claims for the same sewage backup flooding in our same neighborhood (and that was just our insurance so who knows how many other claims were made to other companies). Our house was built in the 50s and has never flooded until 60th was redone (the first was spring 2023). Sewage it’s a safety and health hazard and the city should be held accountable for causing damages in homes like mine and others.
So. If you, your neighborhood, wants to flush diapers, grease, unflushable wipes (mentioned on the package), dental floss and feminine hygiene products; oh, this list is longer and it clogs a modern neighborhood sewer; our city (that is all of 100K) should be required to pay for it?
I say NOT!