Sewage or stormwater? Tallahassee resident with ruined belongings feels misled by city

Kelly Manu was heartbroken last week as she tossed family memories, brand new clothes and vintage game consoles out into her driveway, realizing there was no saving them after she learned she was one of many affected by citywide flooding – and possibly worse: a sewage spill.

The city of Tallahassee reported 11 sewage spills to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection after as much as 14 inches of rainfall were dumped on the capital city and county last Wednesday. The deluge overwhelmed the city's infrastructure – and its workers, as one city official's comments suggested.

The Tallahassee Democrat mapped out the locations of the spills and Manu was shocked: Her home on Doomar Drive was on the list. That was after city workers last Thursday told her none of the stormwater flooding her driveway, garage, backyard and car had mixed with any sewage.

But her address was listed as a source of a spill when the city reported the overflow to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (though city officials say that when reporting a spill, they don't pinpoint residences but rather use the address closest to the manhole that overflowed).

After days worrying about something she says she knew in her gut and could tell by the smell, the 37-year-old, along with her husband Richard, are faced with thousands of dollars in repairs, damages and lost items.

"The whole time they were telling me that it's not sewage, but (they) clearly knew it was," she said.

Manu especially worries for the safety of her children, a 19-month-old and 6-year-old. She says she's upset with the city's handling of the situation, saying they could've been more communicative.

City workers unclear whether flooding was stormwater or sewage or both

Manu, a teacher at Roberts Elementary, said she was looking forward to sleeping in last Thursday because of a planned delay start for Leon County Schools. When she woke up early anyway, she couldn't believe what she saw.

"I texted my boss, 'don't think I'll be making it in today, my garage and back porch started flooding,' " she said.

Manu said there was nearly a foot of water covering her garage, back yard and driveway. Her husband's SUV was fine but hers in the driveway got the worst of it.

She saw a manhole, only a few feet up the road from her house, spewing water out of it: "You could see it almost look like a mini volcano of water coming out, or sewage ... and it didn't stop," Manu said.

Crews arrived by 5 a.m. and worked to clear the flooding, but told Manu, her husband and their neighbors that the water seemed to be only stormwater.

A worker who said he was with the Underground Utilities and Public Infrastructure department visited Manu on Friday and repeated that staff was unaware they might be dealing with sewage at the time of the flooding.

She wishes the city had been more upfront.

"I wouldn't have had to second guess and then I would have asked more questions right then and there, like, what can I do to protect myself? Is there something I should wear?" Manu said. "Because these are all things that I was Googling afterwards."

David Roberts, the assistant general manager for the city's Department of Underground Utilities and Public Infrastructure, told the Tallahassee Democrat that when crews arrived in the morning to Doomar Drive, "they did observe the manhole overflowing but that water was not making it onto the property."

"They did observe, however, that the property was severely flooded ... and that (water) was threatening to enter their living quarters," Roberts said. "Because of this, they were going to set up a pump to try to save the home from flooding."

Roberts said the amount of flooding across the city was unprecedented, and had this been a "normal" sewage spill "we would generally knock on the door and reach out to those customers ... we would advise them to keep their pets and children off the affected area."

A $30,000 toll as family sorts through the mess

Manu is thankful the flooding didn't actually enter her home, but she's left going through her garage and taking inventory of what she's lost, even taking time off work.

"If it was just rain water ... something like my avocado onesie could have been saved and washed, but if it's sewage...." Manu shrugged, suggesting there was no point salvaging anything.

There was other "stuff that can't be replaced," Manu said. "There's a family calendar and then my husband's Wii console."

She even found items from her childhood, hidden away in the many boxes that lined the walls of her garage, that would join the discard pile.

Manu and her family now have a long list of ruined items totaling an estimated $10,000. And they're faced with another estimated $20,000 bill to reclaim the garage.

As of Monday, she has yet to be able to go back to work.

Arianna Otero is the City Solutions Reporter for the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact her via email at AOtero@tallahassee.com or on Twitter/X: @ari_v_otero.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Did sewage-tainted stormwater cause Tallahassee family's losses?