St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1959-08-21

I
The heavy rain created vi
the windows of homes and under
mined and collapsed the basement
walls of a newly constructed home
owned by Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Rogers at 1896 N. Oxford.
In the Rogers home 81 feet
of water flooded collapsing a por-
ton of the basement wall, running
paneled amusement room walls
the furnace which had not been
used, and doing several thousands
of dollars of damage to the es-
timated $4,000 Rogers home,
which was just occupied by the
couple in April.
The home of the c. w. Benners
located at 1887 w. Central
was injured by the torrent Of water
from the sanitation sewer that
backed up in the basement flood
ing even the first floor of the
home with two and one half feet
of water.
A IL cubic foot refrigerator, a
stove and other furniture in the
Benner home were practically
made useless for future use by
the water.
Other homes suffering some
damage were those of Irene Jack
man, 1861 w. Central; DR.. c. C.
Hill, 1O47 w. Central; w. A.
Young, and Leroy Lazenberry,
1856 N. Chatsworth, and John Pat
ton, 1858 w. Central.
At the hearing held before the
council Tuesday Leroy Lazenberry
J introduced the speakers. In brief
statement he outlined the serious
situation which exists in the
neighborhood when it rains and the
heavy losses which are being suf'
fered by the householders.
Lazenberry told how the streets
flooded and the manhole covers
popped off the sewer holes. He
said repeated appeals had been
made to the council since 1925 to
do something to alleviate the de-
plorable situation but nothing has
been done.
He said except for the prompt
action of the fire department there
might have been danger of a gas
explosion in the area on August
Is, because the gas mains in at
least one house broke.
Charles Rogers told how the Writ
ual lake of water poured into the
basement windows of his home and
rose to height of 81 feet, collaps-
ing a section of the basement wall.
He described how he had the
plumbing firm install extra traps
when he built his home to take off
water which might back up from
the sewer.
The condition in the neighbor-
hood Mr.. Rogers said presents a
serious health hazard as well as
thousands of dollars in unrecover-
able property damage.
DR.. c. c. Hill whose lawn and
the corner of his garage was dam
aged says the people who have re-
Gently built in the area live in
constant fear of the rain, hoping it
will not come for fear of having
their homes demolished.
John Patton, described the gen.
eral neighborhood conditions caus-
ed by the flood of water.
Mrs. Cornelius Benner, 1887 w.
Central in an emotion packed ap-
peal told how she and her husband
returned from the Ballet Thurs
day evening only to find it i'm
possible to reach their home be-
cause of the lake of water which
stretched from Oxford to Lexing-
ton AYES. The couple telephoned
their home to find that the line
was out of order Finally, Mrs.
Benner told the council, her hus-
band waded through five feet of
water to reach their home.
She tearfully explained the dew
astation which met him when
he finally forced his way into his
home. Mrs. Benner said the sewer
had caused the collapse of her
basement once before. She said,
God in Heaven, we can't take
this situation and we can't wait
until the freeway is built for re-
lief"
Mrs. Benner was one of the fam
lilies displaced by the freeway con-
struction. She moved her home
from 674 st. Anthony to the pres
ent address and invested several
thousands Of dollars in making 1t
habitable, only to be faced by the
insufficient sewer system.
Theodore F. Allen, insurance