Sewage floods some Blackfoot homes

Some Blackfoot residents are dealing with flooding after a sewer line collapsed on Frontage Road.

Those who live nearest to the break are the most affected. Bathtubs, toilets and sinks overflowed with sewage on Riverton Road, half a mile east of the break.

“I’ve lost a lot of genealogy,” said Joan Thompson. “Everything that was down there they say probably can’t be saved because it was sewer water.”

On Monday afternoon, Thompson sifted through things she was able to salvage from her basement, inundated with raw sewage after the collapse.

“We’ll follow up quickly,” said Blackfoot mayor Mike Virtue. “The appraiser will be out quickly.”

Virtue said the city and its insurance adjuster will process claims as quickly as they can. He gave us a look at the collapse site on Monday afternoon and said workers are trying to restore the line as quickly as possible.

“The next step is they’ll dig the hole, find out what the problem is, repair it, and we should be good to go,” he said.

Reporter Caleb James went down into one of the flooded basements. The sewer water, which had been pumping out for about 20 minutes, was halfway up to his knee.

Joan Thompson, who said she kept all of her genealogy and family photos in her basement, said they were all in sewer water. She emotionally showed her damaged family treasures.

She said flooding began at 8 a.m., and she was in Logan, Utah, and neighbor called her and she drove up.

On The Spot Cleaning and Restoration says they have responded to four homes since Monday morning, but employees said there may be more since people may not be home from work yet.

The immediate response of the city was to bypass the line while concurrently excavating to repair it, according to a news release Monday afternoon. The city expected the repair would be completed by midnight.

The city is asking residents of Blackfoot, Groveland and Moreland to reduce their water usage during this time to minimize potential impact on upstream users.

A viewer told Local News 8 the city had sent a phone alert to some affected residents.

If your home has flooded, call City Hall at (208) 785-8600 if you have not already done so.