A 65-year-old mum and her son have been forced to sleep in the living room of their South London home as they’ve been flooded by leaking sewage for over a year.
Tola Anozie and his 65-year-old mother claim they’ve had sewage bursting through the drains in their bathroom every couple of months.
The family, who live on Central Hill Estate in Crystal Palace, have had to put up with a horrible brown liquid spewing out of the toilet and bath for hours at a time.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Tola said: “It’s gone through to my mum’s room. My mum is having to sleep in the living room. Her whole bedroom is full of sewage. We have had to lift [all her belongings] up.
“I have literally got every window open in my house.
"It just smells of sewage.
"It will flow again and again.
"It took [Lambeth Council] three days to come out. It ruins the carpets.
"We’ve had to get everything cleaned and throw clothes away.”
Video footage from a recent leak shows Tola’s mother’s room coated in brown sludge while water can be heard flowing quickly in the nearby bathroom.
Photos taken at the time show a bath full of sewage water that has come up through the plug hole and you can see where Tola has had to put blankets down to try and stop the water from flowing into more areas of the family home.
The first incident occurred a year ago and, according to Tola, every time a neighbour takes a bath or shower there is a risk of sewage water spilling into his home.
Each time the dirty water spills out Tola has to rush over with old rags to try and stop it from spreading.
He added: “It flows through the day on and off.
"The carpet is full of sewage.
"I’m working from home and the whole time I can smell it.
"I have to keep trying to stop it as much as I can.”
A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: “We have been working to repair this issue for some time, but it is a complex problem in an area of the estate that has experienced a number of blockages in recent months.
"The work has unfortunately taken more time than we had hoped.
"We apologise for this problem and the distress it has caused to this family in the meantime.
“Contractors have visited the site a number of times this week to clear drains, including a blocked drain at the side of the property.
"They are today unblocking the drain and restoring the full flow to this property, using High Pressure Water Jetting.”
Have you got a story for us? You can contact us here.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.
Sign up to our newsletters to get updates sent straight to your inbox.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here