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Sewage leak forces woman from her home
After seven months, a Gibsonton woman is still out of her home with no end in sight.
GIBSONTON, Fla. - A Gibsonton woman says she hasn’t been able to live in her house for about seven months due to a sewer leak underneath it.
"I want to come home, but I can’t come home to this until somebody fixes it. I have no toilet or anything until they fix it," said Shelly Dauberman, the owner of a manufactured home in Eastwood Estates.
She said she hasn’t lived in her house since May because a pipe underneath the structure needs repairs.
"Everything that’s in here has to go between the smell and the mold. We can’t even be in here unless we have all the doors open and fans on," said Michelle Boyiatzis, Dauberman’s daughter.
Boyiatzis has a binder full of papers documenting her journey for answers, figuring out who should fix the pipe, so her mom can move back in.
"In May, the park had a problem with their lift station. The pump broke, and it fed a bunch of back pressure through the lines, and it found a weak point at our house and burst the sewer line and flooded the whole underneath with raw sewage," said Boyiatzis.
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Boyiatzis showed FOX 13 photos she sent to the county of wastewater damage from two separate leaks.
A complaint filed in May with Hillsborough County’s Environmental Protection Commission shows the park put in a bypass pump and put down lime for bacteria in the area. The Florida Department of Health Hillsborough County told FOX 13 it permits the sewage and wastewater connection for the mobile home park, and DOH received a complaint in May but did not find any measurable or observable evidence of wastewater at the time of inspection.
But Boyiatzis said sewage pooled under the home.
"I feel like I’m the hamster on the wheel and I just keep running in circles, and I’m getting nowhere," said Boyiatzis.
Shelly Dauberman during an interview with FOX 13
She also called code enforcement. According to a county report from code enforcement, the park owner Eastwood MHC was cited for nuisance conditions and for its drainage system. Code enforcement has also fined the property owner $1,000 a day as of October 25 to clean up, treat the area, and secure the connection.
"It’s very frustrating. I mean it’s my mother, I’d do anything for her," said Boyiatzis.
The family said they are still waiting for a fix and hope for answers soon.
"I want something done. I want them to be held accountable," said Dauberman.
The EPC report shows the park managers and maintenance talked with EPC to piece things together from the spill in May. FOX 13 reached out to the management company for Eastwood Estates and the property owner for comment.