NORWOOD, Ohio — A Norwood couple claims a Cincinnati sewer project caused their basement to flood, but getting someone to admit responsibility is proving to be quite the ordeal.
“Incredibly frustrating,” said Candace Grissom, a homeowner on Section Avenue. “I had to quit my summer job and make this my full-time summer job because they requested the documentation three different times. I’ve had a constant stream of estimators in and out of the house.”
Grissom claims a city contractor, Azuria Water Solutions/Insituform Technologies, admitted causing the sewer backup on the day it happened, June 18. The company even arranged for a hotel room to house Grissom, her partner Andrew Angotti and their cat.
But their claim for damages has been transferred to three different employees at ESIS, a claims management company that works for the Chubb Group of insurers.
WATCH: See the tens of thousands of dollars in damage caused by a summer pop-up storm
ESIS did not respond to an email from the WCPO 9 I-Team seeking comment, but Grissom shared an email with the company as evidence of her struggle.
After Grissom filed a complaint with the Ohio Department of Insurance, an ESIS claims representative told her a settlement offer would come soon. It hasn’t.
“We have to replace the furnace, the AC, the water heater, the downstairs bathroom, the washer and dryer, repaint, reconstruct the stairs and some other plumbing issues. That came to a contractor total of $66,000,” Grissom said. “I lost a lot of antiques and collectibles. My personal losses were $24,000.”
Angotti is claiming an additional $90,000 in personal losses, including a custom gaming computer, leather furniture from Restoration Hardware and a collection of Japanese knives and razors acquired over years of work as a sushi chef.
“We’ve been living in a hotel for more than a month now,” Angotti said. “We haven’t been living in the house because our furnace and AC is out. We don’t have any hot water. We can’t do any laundry. It is literally 90 degrees inside. It’s just an unlivable situation.”
Old home, heavy rain
The WCPO 9 I-Team has been looking into the June 18 backup because Greater Cincinnati may be getting wetter, and local sewer systems are showing the strain. The last 15 years have included two of the wettest on record, with 73.28 inches of rain in 2011 and 55.9 inches in 2018. This year’s total so far is 28.37 inches, about 8% above the region’s 30-year average.
The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati receives between 3,000 and 6,000 reports of sewer backups each year, but only a fraction of those complaints lead to reimbursement for damages.
As the I-Team reported in May, some homeowners are now purchasing service line riders in their insurance policies to cover basement backups in older homes.
Grissom’s home was built in 1911 at an intersection that often floods during heavy rain. Two stormwater utilities converge at that corner, which lies at the border between Cincinnati and Norwood. MSD sewer maps show Cincinnati’s Storm Water Management Utility has a Bond Hill pipe that meets Norwood’s stormwater system near the southeast corner of Section and Lawn avenues.
“Everyone who lives on the street has told me multiple times that our street has flooded for over 20 years,” Grissom said. “Everyone on the street has reported it. Nothing ever gets done.”
That flooding history prompted Grissom to investigate the risk of basement flooding before she bought the house in 2023.
“We had an inspector come out, declare a dry basement,” Grissom said. “We had a sewer scope done. Our lines leading to the street on all of our drains were completely clear.”
But all of that changed on June 18, when Insituform showed up to repair Cincinnati’s stormwater pipe.
“They were relining our sewer drains with some sort of chemical that had to set, and they had a block set on the line,” Grissom said. “A summer thunderstorm, sort of one of those pop-up storms, happened while the gentlemen were still inside the sewer. Because the blocker was on, it pushed all the water into our live-in basement.”
Who is to blame?
Grissom said she contacted MSD, but was told it had no record of any work being performed that day. MSD later told the I-Team that Cincinnati’s Storm Water Management Utility was in charge of the sewer lining project.
So, we contacted the city of Cincinnati. The next day, it sent a crew to perform a dye test on the underground infrastructure. Then it released a statement:
“The Stormwater Management Utility is actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the backup in the floor drain of the basement at 5200 Section Ave. The sewage line of the residence is connected to the City of Norwood public storm line on Section Avenue. At this point, no determination has yet been reached about the cause of the backup. We understand and sympathize with the homeowner’s frustration. As the investigation continues, we encourage the homeowner to follow the damage claims process outlined under state law.”
The I-Team requested a copy of an MSD sewer map in the vicinity of Grissom’s home. It shows a sanitary sewer in the middle of her street, which is the border between Cincinnati and Norwood. On her side of the street, it’s known as Section Avenue. The other side is Rhode Island Avenue in Bond Hill.
The sewer map also shows Cincinnati’s storm water pipe changes to Norwood’s pipe at the intersection of Section and Lawn avenues in Norwood. That means Grissom owns the closest home to the blocked storm sewer on June 18.
But the map also shows the home’s sewage line is connected to MSD’s sanitary sewer, not Norwood’s storm sewer. The map, which is provided on request by anyone who asks for it, “makes no warranty” that the information it conveys is accurate. So, it is possible that Grissom’s home was connected to the wrong sewer.
Grissom, who is licensed to practice law in Alabama, doesn’t think that should matter.
“This is the city of Cincinnati’s problem,” Grissom said. “It was admitted by multiple officials with Azuria Water Solutions. They accepted responsibility immediately.”
So Grissom said she’ll continue to seek reimbursement for things she can replace and lament the priceless items that were lost or damaged, like her family Bible, now wrinkled and moldy from being caught in the flood.
“Every Christmas, my family would get together and talk about their ancestry and then record it and the genealogy here in the Bible,” Grissom said. Even though it was sort of ruined in the flood, it’s kind of irreplaceable. So I chose to keep it and attempt to dry it out with a hair dryer.”
Angotti is thankful he was able to rescue the family cat, Jim.
“The power was out and the Internet was down, and my first thought was, ‘Where’s Jim?’” recalled Angotti. “He was perched up on one of the leather chairs I had down here, soaking wet and shaking and just scared to death.”
