Cleanup On Brazil Street: Mess For Melrose Just Beginning

How did it all turn to crap so quickly? A week and a half ago, Silvana Ortiz and Chris Doherty got married. They had family staying in their Brazil Street home, gifts everywhere, their three dogs romping around the house.

On Thursday, they were salvaging what they could and trashing what they had to after sewage filth exploded out of the toilet, filling the house and driving them from their home for what could be weeks.

On Friday, they didn't know who was going to pay, where they were going to live, or when they'd get back to see the dogs, now in a kennel.

"We're kind of left in the dark here," Ortiz, whose landlord is out of the country, said. "We don't know ... I just want it to be fixed and done."

Ortiz said it started around 8 a.m., when she called public works about water coming from a small drain outside her house.

"Not 20 minutes later, my toilet started making a bubbling, gurgling sound," Ortiz said. "Then it just started, [feces] — excuse my language — just started tornadoing up from out of the toilet."

There was a blockage in the sewage main, the City later confirmed. Ortiz said the DPW workers told her they either drilled too far or exerted too much pressure in attempting to fix it, causing the blowout.

A restoration company arrived a couple hours later. The estimate for the cleanup: $8,000. That doesn't include the reconstruction, the few weeks she'll have to stay in a hotel, putting her dogs in a kennel, the pod she rented to store her belongings in the driveway, or anything else.

Ortiz said the DPW workers told her to let the company get started on the house and that the expenses would be covered. But the message changed after they talked to their superiors, she said. DPW wanted her to tell the company to just clean the mess, but not to lift floorboards or begin major reconstruction.

"We have [restoration company] Servpro telling us it's going to become toxic if they don't remove things," Ortiz said.

So, she had them remove things.

At fault? The City of Melrose, according to area residents. Responsible for the likely hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, restoration, lodging and other expenses for residents of the four homes at the bottom of Brazil Street? That's still up for debate.

Ortiz said DPW workers indicated to her they triggered the explosion in trying to fix the backup. City Solicitor Robert Van Campen could not confirm to Patch Friday night that workers caused it, and said an independent review from an outside engineering firm will reveal more information.

"In working to resolve the blockage, DPW staff followed the Department’s normal protocol and proceeded to jet the block in the line in order to restore flow," a statement from City later said. "At some point during that process, sewerage surcharged back into four properties on Brazil Street."

Van Campen also could not commit Melrose would make sure the homeowners and residents get reimbursed, saying specific claims would be dealt with through the City's insurer. Cause and liability still have to be determined before the insurance companies — including potentially the homeowners' insurance — get involved.

Van Campen said late Friday night the City will foot the bill for emergency expenses associated with temporary lodging and the storage pods at the homes.

"The City is working tirelessly to provide as much assistance as much possible to homeowners," Van Campen told Patch.

Ortiz said she felt better about the situation Friday night, but it took some time to get there.

"The city is now claiming that they are not at fault and will not cover any damages," she said in a Patch Neighbor Post Thursday. "It's truly devastating that a city like Melrose would treat its homeowners/ renters this way. It's an absolute disgrace."

Shawn MacMaster, the Ward 5 alderman, lives a few houses up on Brazil Street. In between trying to squeeze information out of city officials, he was able to lend a hand.

Ortiz said MacMaster was helping her neighbor, an older man, move his belongings through his filth-filled home late Thursday night.

"As the Ward Alderman and a Brazil Street resident, I am well aware of the significant trauma and property loss suffered by many of my neighbors," MacMaster said in a statement late Friday night. "I have personally visited the homes affected, witnessed the damage first hand, and provided what assistance I can.

"Although I have serious concerns and questions about what occurred leading up to this event and in the immediate aftermath, my primary focus now is to be a support system, resource, and advocate for the neighborhood."

While Ortiz’s home looks like it’s in the middle of a "Fixer Upper" episode, she said Friday most of the important stuff was saved — if you don’t count all their mattresses and most other furnishings, including anything in the bathroom — but among the losses was something sentimental and irreplaceable. Rosary beads, given to her by her grandmother, in the family for generations.

"It hits home the most for me," Ortiz said through teary eyes. "It's something I'll never get back."