Apartments flooded out; Sewage backs up again.

Byline: Karen Nugent

WORCESTER - For the second time this month, and just five months after the grand opening of the newly renovated May Street Apartments - the former Hammond Organ Reed Factory - the complex was flooded in a storm late Friday night.

The results, nearly two feet of water and sewage pouring into first-floor units, forced some tenants to stay in an Auburn hotel after the city Board of Health declared a section of the building uninhabitable. They are expected to be allowed back tonight.

Cars in the parking lot at 9 May St. also were flooded when torrents of water poured in from two directions.

Sarah Bradway, who had just finished vacuuming and cleaning her car with disinfectant yesterday afternoon, said water from the heavy rain rushed into the driveway from May Street, and from the back of the building.

"It was like a waterfall or a river," she said. "It was up to my knees. Everything smells. This is the third time, and this was the worst one."

Debris was strewn about the parking lot as tenants wet-vacuumed their cars.

Timothy A. Niles, a first-floor tenant, had just finished cleaning up from the July 2 flood, which fouled most of the newly painted and varnished first floor units in the 46-unit affordable housing complex owned by Worcester Common Ground Inc., a nonprofit agency. He said the building still smells from the earlier flood.

"It took me two days, on my hands and knees, to clean it up before. Now I have to start all over again," he said.

Mr. Niles' niece, Jennifer Niles, and her boyfriend, Duane D. Newlun, live with him. Mr. Newlun pointed to half-dried muck clinging to walls, and said the water was about 2 feet high in the living room.

"The electric panel outside was flooded. I'm surprised we didn't lose power," he said.

Many tenants are disabled.

Mr. Niles, who uses a machine to help him breathe at night, said his new furniture is ruined.

"I haven't even paid for it," he said

Joseph L. Salvia, vice president of Maloney Properties Inc., which manages the building, was there yesterday, helping cleaning crews dry and vent the building. He said a meeting is planned early this week with engineers, and city and Worcester Common Ground officials, to discuss the problem.

He said it appears that during heavy storms the city sewer system backs up to the point that it causes a backflow, resulting in a valve in the complex's system closing.

"Then nothing goes out," Mr. Salvia said. "The engineers are investigating it."

The complex was opened March 4 with much fanfare, including a ribbon-cutting ceremony with Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray. The $16 million restoration project began in 2007 and was partially funded with city, state and federal money.

Contact Karen Nugent at [e-mail].

ART: PHOTO

CUTLINE: Victor Perez from ARS Restoration Specialists works on the cleanup from flooding at a May Street apartment building yesterday as 4-year-old Rafael Cruz plays in an area that was under water Friday night.

PHOTOG: T&G Staff/RICK CINCLAIR