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Flooding drudges sewage down Hyde Park streets

Flooding drudges sewage down Hyde Park streets
Posted at 3:21 PM, Aug 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-29 17:35:50-04

CINCINNATI -- "It's pretty stinky, so windows open."

Maureen Ernst's basement is full of water. She and her family can't stay in their Hyde Park home right now; the smell of sewage backup is part of the problem.

Ernst's next-door neighbor, Jill Haney, said she watched water bubble out of the sewers in front of her home. Before long, the street was a river.

"I have other people's poop on my body right now because these sewers did not work," Haney said.

Residents aren't the only ones affected by the flooding -- business owners are also mopping up the mess flash flooding left behind.

"There was just water everywhere," said Dawn Schiff, co-owner of Ossies on Edwards Road. "It's just amazing how fast it can happen."

But the damage in Hyde Park is dwarfed by that in Norwood, just a few miles away. Norwood schools were closed Monday and Tuesday due to flood damage.

Cincinnati residents experiencing sewage backups can contact the Metropolitan Sewer District here. As of Monday afternoon, MSD received more than 400 sewage backup reports.