A FAMILY have been left temporarily homeless after raw sewage from a burst drain flooded their property.
Kim Huggins and her two youngest sons are for the moment being put up by Croydon Council nearly nine miles away in West Norwood, after a drain next to their house in Oakbank, Fieldway, overflowed on Monday night.
And, according to Miss Huggins, this is not the first time her home has come under attack from a sewage storm.
The 53-year-old recalled hearing "bubbling" noises at around midnight and coming downstairs to find sewage spreading across the ground floor.
She said: "I could hear some bubbling and the dog was going mad because I keep him [overnight] in the downstairs toilet.
"When I opened the toilet door the toilet was coming back on itself. Water had come in the front door and all along the passage. It was about two inches up the wall.
"You could not tread on the floor because it was covered in water. All the floorboards are starting to rise."
Miss Huggins called firefighters, who attended but said they could not deal with sewage floods.
The council agreed on Tuesday that the privately rented property could not be lived in until the issue was sorted out.
The mother-of-five says the drain has overflowed twice before since she moved in four years ago, but this time was the worst yet, with neighbours houses also affected.
She says the sewerage system is insufficient for the area's needs, and has called on Thames Water to make changes.
Miss Huggins added: "They have built this big estate: they should have made sure the sewerage system could manage.
"It's upsetting because it is breaking the family up. My grandchildren cannot come and visit me [now I'm so far away]."
Her youngest son, Kayun, 15, is doing his GCSEs at Addington High and now faces a long journey to and from school, while their two pet dogs, Kizzie and Banks, cannot go with the family to the temporary accommodation.
A spokesman for Thames Water said it "sympathised" with affected residents, adding: "The problem was due to rainwater overwhelming our sewer network.
"We have arranged for a clean-up of the area, including individual properties, to take place on Wednesday [April 23] and have scheduled an engineer to visit within the next week to clean the sewer pipes."
