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Dover mum hits out at Southern Water over raw sewage horror

A mum has spoken of her horror after her garden was flooded by raw sewage.

Dawn Hopkins, from Dover, says her family have been enduring an "awful" situation for days and nothing has been done.

Dawn Hopkins and her neighbours have been dealing with raw seweage in their garden
Dawn Hopkins and her neighbours have been dealing with raw seweage in their garden

Residents in Henniker Close have had flowing sewage at the front and back of their homes since Christmas Eve.

Mrs Hopkins said: "It has been directly affecting us like this for three days now, but a house up the road first reported a blocked toilet 10 days ago.

"Southern Water came through to work on that but must have just pushed it further down the street's drainage system.

"We had raw sewerage flowing down the street in front of our houses on Christmas Eve!"

The mum-of-one says that she, her partner and daughter are having to avoid flushing the toilet and using the shower because of the backlog of water.

The situation has reportedly been ongoing for days
The situation has reportedly been ongoing for days

She explained: "This morning I had to let a bath out that we'd been holding for two days, and it made even more water and other unspeakable things bubble up in the garden.

"My partner lifted the manhole cover by our house earlier and the water is literally at the top, it started dribbling out.

"We’ve got another drain by our gas box, and that’s got everything coming out of it.

"I’ve got a five year old just come out of isolation, and she has medical issues- she could get an infection and end up in hospital from this."

Mrs Hopkins, 39, says the road has had minor issues before, but any that have occurred have been fixed within a day.

All of the surrounding drains are completely filled with water
All of the surrounding drains are completely filled with water

She explained that Town and Country Housing, which built the estate, have been in contact with Southern Water and other contractors in vain.

"A man from T&C came out from Tonbridge and got straight on the phone to Southern Water a couple of days ago," she continued, "Ad they said they'd be there yesterday, which didn't happen.

"We almost feel abandoned, especially now with everything that's happened over Christmas and with schools due to go back, it's awful.

"We've heard that they will come and fix it tonight, in the next couple of hours, but we'll have to wait and see."

Southern Water spokesman said: "We have to apologise to customers affected by this. Our response was far too slow and that’s not acceptable.

"We unblocked a sewer in the area last night (30 Jan) which was found to be plugged with wet wipes and other unflushables. Today [New Years Eve] a squad visited the area to clean up. “

Read more: All the latest news from Dover

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