Sewage backup floods homes in Canton

CANTON, S.D. (KELO) — A street sign on the south end of Canton, South Dakota reads South Pleasant Street, and it usually is pleasant. But the recent sight and smell of sewage backup is anything but.

Alyssa Johns runs an at-home daycare. When her basement filled with 18 inches of sewage water a couple weeks ago, she had to temporarily close her doors.

“When you have to take off work to clean up, you have to take off work because kids shouldn’t even be around that or near it or anything like that. It’s hard. It’s hard to keep daycare families happy,” Johns said.

Many residents said it’s a city issue that’s been going on for years.

“We’re at the point where [insurance] doesn’t want to pay for anything. So, we got two of our boys that are sleeping upstairs on air mattresses in the living room. And, we need to do something. School is starting here in a couple of weeks, and they can’t be going to school, sleeping on an air mattress,” Canton resident Charles Heiskell said.

Drake Kroger has been helping his grandparents clean their house after sewage backup was stuck inside their home for five days.

“Me and my grandpa both got sick from trying to work in that sewer. So, we were both out for about four days, just dizzy and nauseous and all that from that sewer gas,” Kroger said.

Canton Mayor Sandi Lundstrom said the city didn’t know about the significant damage to pipes from the flood until last week. She says a $5 million project to replace some of the old pipes that are too small had already been underway. Some residents think this issue needs to take priority over other ongoing projects.

“There’s a lot of people on South Pleasant Street that have had their basements with four foot of sewage in them. We spent all the money and all concentrated all the effort in this community on a swimming pool,” Canton resident Reavis Heiskell said.

Many homeowners, like Amy Bergren, want answers.

“There really is no excuse for them to not have the equipment to handle all this stuff. People are using the bathrooms outside, especially on our side of town. They never offered porta potties, nothing. They let us basically go outside, all of us,” Amy Bergren said.

KELOLAND News reached out to the Canton utility commissioner and has not heard back.

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