Jenell Hicks’ Seattle home has flooded twice, all because of a tree.
Its roots crept their way into the old clay pipe. And that busted her side sewer.
“And because everything the water touched, because it was sewer water, I had to get rid of it.”, Janell remembers painfully.
She had to refinance her wet home to pay the $60,000 in cleanup costs.
“What if I didn’t have a job where I worked for King County, which has a union that pays me a living wage? I would have been stuck.”
On her sewer map, you can see the side sewer and a blob in green ink directly over it, which is the sewer-busting tree.
“Honestly, around town, you see that on pretty much every block. You have sewers within, you know, just a few feet of trees within the right of way, ” said Tim Walsh, Jenell’s plumber.
Jenell believes the city should pay for sewer repair and the damage to her home. Why?
“How could it pass inspection with the tree sitting on top of the sewer line? How does it pass inspection with the no clean-out trap?”.