Kalona residents seek answers after sewage backs into homes

KALONA, Iowa (KCRG) — A foot and a half of sewage water backed into basements in Kalona, damaging decades of belongings after what the city administrator called the most intense rainfall he has seen.

Sandy and Gary Marner have lived in their Kalona home for more than 30 years. Sandy said sewage backed into their finished basement this past weekend — ruining her Peloton, the bathroom and multiple pieces of furniture.

Marner pointed to the numerous dumpsters in driveways across town, along with city staff working late into the night, as evidence of a larger concern than just her own home.

“I feel like there’s a bigger issue at play. If it was just a small area of town, that would have been one thing, but it has hit many, many streets,” Marner said.

Roy and Roberta Wilson, who live several streets away, also lost several appliances, photos from their 47 years of marriage and Roberta’s mother’s wedding dress. Roy said the water reached above his knees.

Both couples had to install new water heaters in their homes.

City cites intense rainfall

Kalona City Administrator Ryan Schlabaugh said this was the highest intensity of rainfall in the shortest amount of time he has seen, totaling about 5.6-5.7 inches and causing flash flooding.

“We also saw a severe amount of infiltration into the sanitary sewer system that did cause some pressure back-ups into homes in certain areas,” he said.

As insurance helps the families move forward and recoup a portion of the lost value, Marner said she wants the community’s questions answered.

“We just want to find what happened, make sure it doesn’t happen again and try to find help for people in the city of Kalona,” Marner said.

The city says it is now focused on fact-finding by working on a heat map and camera studies to locate spots to fix. The city is also working with partners such as an engineering firm to determine next steps and meeting with homeowners next week to inspect connection points.

Kalona also has a link for residents to report damage on the city website.

Marion also reports flooding

Some Marion residents also saw flooding in their homes to a level Deputy City Manager Kim Downs said she has not seen in 15 years.

“The ground was already so saturated and then you add five inches of rain on top of that… Sadly that filters into our sanitary sewer, fills up the storm waters and the flood plains and the floodways and then it will look for those cracks in the different things,” Downs said. “This is why we do the studies and why we do maintenance programming.”

A recent stormwater study will help the city determine which areas need maintenance in the coming years.

The city is offering arranged pick-up to clear away damaged belongings, with 145 people already reaching out. The city also asks residents who experienced damage to their homes to fill out a form through the Linn County EMA to gather more information.