Raw sewage flooding homes in Mount Vernon

MOUNT VERNON, New York (WABC) -- Angry homeowners in Mount Vernon are blasting the city over its response to a raw sewage leak that has flooded several homes and businesses.

"It's absolutely ridiculous," says Wayne Fletcher. "I don't know how much more of this I can take any more."
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The sewer lines below 3rd Street between 7th to 13th Avenues have been a trouble spot for years.

Blockages occur where two 24-inch pipes feed into a connector that's only 10 inches wide.

"The sewage is not from my house, it's like from hundreds of my neighbor's houses. If that's not a health risk and a hazard, I don't know what is," says Fletcher.
The city is borrowing a pump from the Westchester County Department of Emergency Management to bypass the clogged pipe.
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However, a long-term solution is more difficult, says Public Works Commissioner Damani Bush, "What I'm going to have to do is call the Army Corps of Engineers to take it to a higher level to get some assistance on this because this is out of our purview."

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