Sewer leak swamps Kensington street following storm

KENSINGTON (WPVI) -- Some residents of Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood had to deal with the impact of a stopped-up sewer on their street.

The problems in the 3400 block of Kensington Avenue began in the aftermath of Saturday's powerful storms.

Even on Monday morning, the water was so high around Frank Santiago's house that he had to put plastic bags over his shoes to get in and out of his home.

"I had my son on my shoulder to get out. That's the way we had to get in and out," he said.

Neighbors say this sewer line has caused problems before.

"They were out here four days ago cleaning it out. They made it worse. This whole sewer thing is clogged up. It's obsolete," said Ray Long.

The city told Santiago that it would be three days before they could get to his problem.

But, after an Action News call to the city's water department, an army of water department personnel descended on the 3400 block within three hours to address the problem.

"What we found initially was a broken service line up the street. We also had an inlet that was not taking water. That caused the flooding situation," said Deputy Crew Chief Hashim Murphy.

The problem actually stemmed from leakage further down this busy avenue.

"To relieve the problem we unchoked the choked inlet and cut off the water to the broken service line. That service will be restored once that service line is replaced," said Murphy.

That service restoration happened on Monday afternoon.

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