Toowoomba woman had sewage bubbling up through bathroom drain

When a mixture of sewage and stormwater bubbled through her mother’s home, a Toowoomba woman said she couldn’t find anyone to help her during the dreadful time.

MESSY JOB: Jo Marsh cleans up her late mother’s house after the floors were soaked with storm and sewage water. Picture: Kevin Farmer

One Toowoomba woman’s life has gone to poo – literally.

Jo Marsh’s mother recently died and her brother travelled up from Tasmania with the intention of staying in their mum’s home in Toowoomba while here for the funeral.

However, when the family gathered at their mother’s house they found the floors soaked through with a mixture of storm water and sewage.

Further investigation found that during Friday morning’s deluge, somehow water had backed up and was bubbling up through the drain in the bathroom.

“It flooded the house and we were ankle deep in it,” Ms Marsh said.

But that was only the beginning of the family’s stress.

“The (Toowoomba Regional) council sent out a message saying that if you had any flooding to call the SES,” she explained.

Jo Marsh cleans up her late mother’s house from flood damage which soaked the floors in storm water and sewage. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“We called the SES who said ‘we can’t help you, we can only give you sandbags and tarps, you’ll have to call a plumber’.

“We called a plumber and he said ‘I can’t help you, you’ll have to contact the council’.

“We contacted the council and were told that they would send a text message with a job number but nobody sent a text message and nobody came so the house stayed as it was.”

Fortunately, as the rain subsided so did the “bubbling” in the house but the carpets and other floor coverings were left soaked and smelling, leaving the house uninhabitable.

“The insurance company was great and offered to put my brother up in a hotel but we said it would be fine and he and my mother’s 19-year-old cat are staying with us,” Ms Marsh said.

“As if it wasn’t stressful enough with Mum dying but then we find this when we go to clear out her house?

“And what if it starts raining again, is the same thing going to happen again?”