OVERLAND PARK, Kan. — Many homeowners across the metro are spending the day cleaning up and drying out from Sunday’s heavy rains. Water levels at area creeks have receded after concerns of high water.
When there are reports of three to five inches of rain like there were on Sunday, it’s going to cause problems for people near streams and creeks. The Rooney family spent Monday morning getting water out of their basement. They took out boxes full of waterlogged memories and other sentimental valuables like a 25-year-old wedding dress that can’t be replaced.
“I said ‘Oh my God!” said family member Jean Tirk. “I said ‘give us all strength on this.’ They work so hard and I am here for them.”
Sunday night around 9:30 p.m., Brian Rooney walked down into his basement to find between six inches and a foot of water rising up from the floor. Because a nearby park was flooding and Indian Creek was out of its banks, he assumed storm water drains were backing up. He says it turned out to be much worse.
“The water rose in the morning,” Rooney said. “At that point I contacted the city. It didn’t make sense that the water would not recede. Pulled in a pump started pumping out the water, and shortly after I started pumping out the water, all my drains in basement started reverse flowing, filling back up the room. It was clear the water was coming from the outside.”
Rooney says he learned a nearby sewer line clogged causing raw sewage to back up into his home. As a result, he says cleaning up the mess is going to mean replacing contaminated wallboards and throwing away many of the family’s possessions.
“It’s bad, it’s very very bad,” Jean Tirk said. “I think it we had probably six inches maybe of water in there. It just kept coming up out of the drain. And it now is starting to recede. So, we’re now getting the waterlogged, carpet and everything down there that she had down there.”
The family says they will survive. There are nine people living under one roof. They say it’s important to get the basement living area back to normal as quick as they can.
Not all home insurance covers sewer line backups. The family is working with Johnson County Wastewater to see if the agency will help with clean up costs.
