What to Know
- South Florida's Gwen West says the sewage trouble happened multiple times in 2017 and most recently in the fall
- West is now living in an RV parked in her driveway and says she can’t go inside her North Miami home without a protective mask
The sound of the running water from a sewage line brings with it the unpleasant contaminants that flow into the street and then into the North Miami home of Gwen West.
"Sewage just exploded in the middle of the road,” West said. "I mean just exploded."
The South Florida woman says the trouble happened multiple times in 2017 and most recently in the fall. The result for West, she’s now living in an RV parked in her driveway and says she can’t go inside the home without a protective mask.
"And when I walked outside, I got this gasp of sewage gasses that gave me something like an asthma attack," West said. "I have lost everything."
A check of inspection reports for the area of North Miami shows that West isn’t the only homeowner who called complaining. When FEMA came to inspect, she says it informed her that the home was unsafe to live in.
Months later, West and her attorney Andrew Kassier said she’s caught in the ultimate Catch-22 because no one wants to take responsibility for the damage to her property.
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"Can you say a Catch-44? Double the dose," she said.
West said a government construction project adjacent to her home is part of the problem, with the pile driving damaging the structure. A FEMA inspection report indicates the work is to upgrade the storm drain capacity in the area.
"The line is supposedly maintained by both the county at one point and by the city of North Miami," Kassier said.
"North Miami had to take care of the water lines, they said to protect them from breaking during their digging. But they never thought about me," West said.
West called for help but said the city of North Miami told her it’s not their problem, it’s the county.
"The City is not the party undertaking the lift station upgrade...Consequently, the City of North Miami cannot be held liable," the city said in a letter to West.
So West said she called the county. "The county said 'oh, no that’s North Miami,'" she said.
"The location in question is within North Miami water service area. Construction was being done for the private contractor and the City of Miami Beach. You will need to refer...to them...no liability exists on Miami Dade County," the county wrote in a letter to West.
Kassier is going to court now and suing for West to get help.
"I have now walked into the legal problem of having two defendants pointing the finger at one another," Kassier said.
Coming home to an RV and not going inside her home has West at the end of her rope.
"It seems like we have a government that don’t care about its constituents. It’s a horrible place to live," West said.
The City of North Miami Beach said they don’t have anything to do with the project. North Miami said it tried to work this out and wanted to fix the property, but that West wouldn’t sign a document releasing them from being responsible, so they didn’t do the work.
West isn’t alone. One inspection report indicted other residents have also called for help too.
