SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. – A sewer line rupture on Wall Street near Barnes Road caused significant water damage to a local resident’s home, leading to frustration and a call for accountability from Spokane County. Crews identified the rupture location, discovering a 36-inch crack in the ductile iron sewer line.
This incident led to the shutdown of Wall Street for repairs. Darrin Williams, a Wall Street resident, experienced severe flooding in his basement due to the rupture.
“When they finally got an excavator here to poke a hole and the water really picked up then,” Williams said.
“And then it surrounded my whole home and started flooding in all the windows.”
Williams expressed frustration with the delay in response. He stated it took seven hours for flood control pump trucks to address the water entering his home.
“They told me because of the weight of the truck, they didn’t feel safe parking the truck here to evacuate the water,” he said. “So eventually the water filled up the windowsill and flooded my basement.”
The flooding not only threatened his home, which he purchased from his father, but also endangered approximately $200,000 worth of rare collectibles stored in the basement.
“I just restored a vintage drum set that I haven’t even got to play on yet, and it was sitting right inside of the window,” Williams added.
Williams believes Spokane County should be held responsible for the damages.
On Wednesday, crews began cutting the damaged section of the pipe to replace it with new pipe fittings. The repair process will continue over the next few days, including refilling holes with dirt and re-graveling the road, according to Allen Rodell from DW Excavating Inc.
“The repair itself is pretty short,” Rodell said, “but finding the leak and then digging it out and getting rid of the material is what takes the longest.”
