TROY, Mo. – When the wind picks up, it's normally a hint a storm is approaching. But for Eric Dunlap, it's a warning to check his basement.
"Welcome to my hell,” Dunlap said as he stands in his basement after it flooded last Friday.
Because when it rains, that's a recipe for disaster.
"This is not mud on the floor,” he said. “This is everybody's sewage in the neighborhood in my basement--again."
Over the past 8 years Dunlap lived in his Troy home, raw sewage has filled his basement almost half dozen times.
"Not something I wish on my worst enemy.” Dunlap said.
At one point, he said firefighters had to evacuate his family from the home because the wastewater was so high.
"It was up four steps, so if you go up four steps, the water line was right at the bottom at the fifth step,” he said of how high the water got to his basement steps.
Each time it floods, his basement has to be gutted, Dunlap said costing him close to $100,000
"It's traumatizing. I mean it hurts your entire family,” he said.
And each time, Dunlap calls on the city to fix the issue because he said it’s they're fault.
He said the lift station down the street from his house is the problem.
"The city says it's not their problem, it's mine," he said.
5 On Your side spoke to the Mayor of Troy who said he's taking the issue seriously. He admits the city had to repair a portion of the lift station. But, the mayor stopped short at saying whose fault it is until an insurance adjuster decides.
Dunlap said the city's lack of action, may force him to move.
"They do not fix the problem,” he said. “They patch it saying it won’t happen again and you see what happens; it happens again."
Dunlap is hoping he doesn't have to pay thousands to get his basement fixed.
The mayor of Troy told 5 On Your Side the insurance adjuster for the city should make a determination on who will foot the bill for Dunlap’s damages sometime next week.
