A news report from Sarah Ostman, AustinTalks.org
Elias Valencia didn’t know it when the rain started, but the storm that hit Chicago July 23 would cost him dearly. It would be so expensive in fact, that he, like thousands of other residents, are looking to the federal government for help.
At some point during the heavy rains, sewage started backing up into the first floor of Valencia’s Leamington Avenue home. By the storm’s end, sludgy water sat two feet deep in his children’s playroom, his floors had buckled, and everything from the new kitchen cabinets to his big-screen TV was waterlogged and useless.
The damages to his home could top $20,000, Valencia estimates – and to make matters worse, he’s now worried that his family is inhaling dangerous mold spores.
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