Charles City, IA- Some area homeowners want answers from their city leaders after backed up sewer water leaves them with an expensive mess.
It happened earlier this summer and Charles City leaders say there is nothing more they can do.
The city says vandals removed a man whole cover near Park Avenue in Charles City. It happened twice, once in May and once in June.
It took less than two inches of rain to cause some major problems for people living nearby.
John lair's basement is one of a kind. It’s filled with thousands of collectibles, from beer tappers and signs, to toy tractors and cars. When he moved in five years ago people warned he may have water problems on his new homes site, because it lies in an old swamp.
"Then last year we had the flood the Charles City flood everything in town was flooded, down here, not a drop of water, our basement was just plum dry," he said.
So when his neighbor called last may about having water in the basement John was surprised. He couldn't believe what he found in his own home, about three inches of sewer backup.
"At the time I though the city had to do something, something went wrong here, because we don't have water in the basement,” John said.
He and nine other neighbors learned that their sewers had backed up twice because someone had removed a man-hole cover. They also found out, the city's insurance wouldn't cover the first backup.
“What do you mean your going to deny our claims?” John asked, he says the insurance agent replied, “We got proof that the city put that man-hole cover back on."
John and his neighbors went to the city council to ask them to help get their damages covered. The response isn't what they hoped for.
"We asked EMC to revisit the claim which they did, they went back and re-investigated everything and came back with the same decision that they would deny the first claim and they would pay on the second occurrence,” said City Clerk Trudy O'Donnell.
The city says it's done all it can, John says it's not good enough.
"I would like to see the city or the city's insurance company pay our claims, because we feel it's their fault," he said.
The damage to John’s basement topped $8,000, which his insurance doesn't cover. He's currently working with an attorney to try and come up with a solution.
He will likely file a new claim with the city's insurance company.
After the second sewer back-up the city added a block of concrete to the top of that manhole cover.
Seven people are still seeking claims with the city's insurance company.
