Residents wake up to find raw sewage has flooded their gardens

The back gardens of four houses on the A5 at Watling Street near Cannock were covered with human excrement and contaminated water on Tuesday.

Shocked residents alerted each other after the deluge at 7am. The waste destroyed gardens, reached back doors and, says resident Linda Brawn, spread into air bricks.

"Our garden is full of sewage - it is horrendous," she said.

"The piping from the pumping station at the back of our estate has failed.

"We think a pipe has fractured and sewage from Great Wyrley has covered our garden."

Mrs Brawn, 68, said that staff from Severn Trent Water came after about an hour and the police responded as they had to manage traffic on the A5 due to the waste water.

"They (Severn Trent) turned off the pumping station and are working on a clean up strategy and assessing the damage to property," she said adding that the sewage had gone through her neighbour's garage.

"They told us not to touch anything."

By late morning Mrs Brawn said the flood water had subsided but the layer of sewage remained.

"The smell is not too bad now," she added. "It is the volume of sewage."

The residents were left without power during the morning as their electricity supply had to be switched off as a precaution.

A spokesperson for Severn Trent said: "We’re extremely sorry to customers living along Watling Street in Cheslyn Hay, who’ve been affected by a burst sewer pipe.

"We fully appreciate just how distressing any type of flooding can be, which is why we’re doing everything we can to repair the pipe and return everything back to normal as quickly as possible.

“Our teams have been in regular contact with those affected customers, keeping them updated every step of the way and offering as much support as possible.

"As part of those conversations, we’ve made a commitment to carry out a thorough clean up at each affected home.

“Nearby residents will notice increased traffic activity in the area, as we tanker waste away from the burst to our treatment works in Goscote, near Walsall.

"To keep our engineers and other road users safe, we’ll need to put temporary traffic lights in place, while we’re working in the area.

“Again, we’re really sorry for the distress this has caused.”