GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The city of Grand Rapids has repaired the water main break that happened Thursday morning. Residents are still dealing with the aftermath which may include a fight with insurance.
“They're getting three cases of water at this time there will be more available to them if they need it.” said Grand Rapids Water System Manager Wayne Jernberg
Grand Rapids city workers were out Friday morning delivering water to residents who are under a boil water advisory because of the water main break. Meijer donated almost 1,000 cases of water to the city to help those without drinking water.
Daniel Vermeulen, affected resident, says “I've done a lot of camping and hiking and stuff. So, it's just kind of like I'm an urban camper right now. But um yeah, you just got to remember to keep things clean. Make sure that you boil everything.
For some people in the neighborhood having no drinking water is the least of their problems.
“The water level was risen all the way up to the ceiling.” Said Stephanie Hall.
The water in her basement is gone but the damage left behind is not, so she made a claim with her insurance.
“We got confirmation this morning that it wasn't covered.” Said Hall
She is frustrated because the damage was caused by a failure of the city’s infrastructure and thinks it should be the city’s liability. Saying, “We have to do all this work and try to try to work through this city on the whole thing. And I can't even imagine what that's going to be like. I'm not looking forward to this at all.”
At this time the city is doing its best to help affected residents but don’t know to what extent.
“We had some of our staff go door to door at the direction of risk management I think there was about a dozen properties that have significant you know flooding damage and stuff like that. We've given them all the paperwork that they're going to need from the city and the city will work with them and their insurance companies.” Said Jernberg.
He says the flow of water was so great that it overwhelmed the storm sewers, saying , “In this situation. There's enough sand and debris that came out of this excavation that could easily plug a 10-inch sanitary sewer storm sewer or anything like that. Those catch basins fill up with sand. There's nowhere for that water to go.”
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