When it floods in the north Houston community of Candlelight Oaks, it’s not just water spilling onto the community’s streets, but hygiene products and human waste, according to residents.
Neighbors living in the area told KPRC2 that they’ve had a sickening issue the past several months — every time the neighborhood experiences heavy rain, backed-up wastewater is washed out of the sewers and manholes and onto the streets.
“Literally just straight-up raw s***,” one resident, Monica Mendoza More, told the broadcaster. “and the thing people put down the toilet is condoms, purple and pink tampons, and more condoms.”
“Every time it rains really bad for consecutive days, it bubbles over,” she added.
More told the outlet that the stench of the flooding lingers long after the waters have gone.
“If you ever had gone to an outhouse that’s been sitting out in the sun for a couple of weeks, you’re getting the idea,” resident Rick Scott told KPRC2.
Scott also said he was worried about the impact the water could have on the animals and children in the neighborhood.
“It wasn’t a very healthy environment,” he said.
He told the broadcaster that cleaning the streets after each flood is not a viable long-term solution to the sewage problem. He called street clean-ups a “Band-Aid” and said it would be more effective to address the problem at its root.
“What’s causing it? Let’s get to the point of it,” he added.
A spokesperson for the City of Houston told KPRC2 that work crews were sent to the neighborhood after receiving complaints about the sewage, but found there were no issues at the time of the inspection.
The city said it planned to send people to monitor the situation during future heavy rain events to see if they can learn more about the issue.
Until the city can determine what is happening in Candlelight Oaks and devise a way to fix the problem, the residents are left to fend for themselves.
More said she’s spent $3,500 on plumbing work related to mitigating the sewage backups, and another $500 to help restore her yard after it was turned into a wastewater swamp by the floods.
Another resident, Jaunda Payne, told the broadcaster she sought help from the Houston City Council after she had to “manually clean up human feces and toilet paper” from her backyard.
The Independent has requested comment from the City of Houston.
