Local

Jacksonville mother upset after raw sewage from apartment complex backs up in her bathtub

A local mother says raw sewage continues to back up in her unit and her complex is aware of the problem.

Tierra Byrd said, “I mean, they told me last night, it comes from everybody’s drainage. Everything that’s going from everybody’s toilet is flowing in my main pipe in the back.”

We visited the unit and saw toilet paper, frequented by flies, strewn across her back porch where she says the sewage from other units backs into her main pipe.

TRENDING STORIES:

Callahan family dies in fiery crash after car strikes alligator in roadway, troopers say

Family: Grandson of Jacksonville baby kidnapper shot, killed

Cars set on fire at Jacksonville dealership accused of scamming customers

She said she has filed at least five complaints with the leasing office, but nothing has been done to stop the problem permanently.

The leasing office tells Action News Jax that plumbers regularly visit the units and fix problems.

But Byrd said the plumbers do quick cleanups and a faulty pipe system is to blame for the ongoing problem.

“They don’t want to find the root of the problem. Which is what they’re supposed to do,” she said.

Action News Jax contacted the Florida Department of Health and learned it is a health code violation of the sanitary nuisance statute to have sewage leak on yards and in houses.

The department said it will send an investigator to the complex on Tuesday.

Byrd said she worries for her 3-year-old son.

“It’s very unhealthy. I don’t want to be laid up in the hospital. I don’t want my son to be laid up in the hospital because he can't breathe at all," she said.