WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
While many people were adapting their homes to fit their needs over lockdown, one woman has experienced a living 'nightmare' after a stinking river of sewage made up of tampons, wet wipes and faeces poured into her home three times in a week.
Horrified Lesley Lacey-Smith, 64, says she has been forced to sleep on a neighbour's sofa in the middle of the pandemic as sludge and water has flooded through the main drain into her garden.
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Her fridge was destroyed by water damage in the wreckage and she says she fears some of her clothes 'will never be clean'.
Ms Lacey-Smith said: "I feel I've been dragged through the hedge backwards. It's a nightmare. I've been massively affected by this. I've been trying to be nice to not cause too much of a fuss."
The artist from Margate in Kent said it began earlier this month when a resident called her one morning, saying 'don't look outside'. She went on: "Of course I did and there were tampons, wet wipes, faeces - it was so disgusting.
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"I've got a main drain in my garden and I'm technically the last house in the row as the one on the end is new. So I had everybody's sewage from the other houses coming up and flooding into my house. The reality of that smell, there is nothing like it. I'm never going to stop washing my things."
Ms Lacey-Smith says she called Southern Water, but cleaned up the mess herself the first time it happened.
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"I wasn't going to sit there with all this sewage in my house," she said. "I thought by the time I wait for Southern Water to get here and a cleaning company to come, I might as well just do it."
Despite the water company coming out to pump the drain and look at what caused the problem, five days later, the same thing happened again.
A cleaning company was sent who she says spent seven hours in her property, but failed to get all the waste out.
The homeowner continued: "I went round with a tissue afterwards and it got clogged up with sewage, it wasn't clean."
Two days later, a third sewage incident saw more sludge pour through her home.
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She said: "I'm not a natural complainer and I'm not a money-grabber - all I want is my fridge replaced, which was damaged by water, and anything else that's been damaged - but I need to highlight this should it happen to others here."
Southern Water apologised to residents for the disruption and said the blockage was caused by a large piece of wood found lodged in the sewer.
A spokesman said: "We've used tankers to manage flows and our Rainbow team is assisting residents who have been affected.
"Access to the relevant part of the sewer could only be gained from railway land and we needed to ask permission from Network Rail to work which meant this went on longer than we would have liked.
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"We hope householders will understand these exceptional circumstances."
Featured Image Credit: SWNS