Woman's Christmas gifts ruined by apartment sewage leak

Several families in Southeast Atlanta were forced out of their apartments because of a raw sewage leak.

Miriam Grant's apartment and her grandchildren's Christmas gifts were soaked when the sewage water started coming from the bathroom and through her halls.

"It's coming up through the toilet, through the bathtub, everywhere," Grant said.

Her family had to leave because of the conditions.

She said raw sewage had been flowing through her apartment in Eagles Run apartment complex for days.

With no response from management or the NuRock corporate office, she said she had to hire someone to vacuum 21 gallons of sewage water off of her floors.

She said eventually had to call in the fire department for help.

"The fire department said the only thing they could do was cut the water off," Grant said.

That left the whole building without water.

She said the apartment staff was nowhere to be found.

"Gone for the weekend. They don't even have an emergency number for them to call in case of fire," she said.

No one was around when Channel 2 Action News reporter Carl Willis checked, either.

There was an emergency phone number posted on the front door of the leasing office, but it just rang without an answer.

The Red Cross had to step in to help people in the building.

They put them up in a hotel until Tuesday and provided debit cards for food.

"It's not something we typically help with, but because of it being the holidays we certainly couldn't leave them stranded with no place to go," said Red Cross Incident Response Leader Robert Bales.

Grant also pointed to mildew forming in a room. She said it was the last time her apartment flooded with raw sewage.

"It's unbearable," she said. "It's unlivable and no one should have to live like this. Especially since this isn't the first time. This isn't the second time. This is the fourth time this has happened and they have not corrected this problem."