Swallowed By Sewage
A man from Huntington, New York, his Son and a neighbor were all swallowed in raw sewage when what is being described as a cesspool caved in during heavy rain.
Andrew Palladino said the soggy ground, soaked by two days of rain, gave way outside his Long Island home: "I walked across the lawn, and all of a sudden I disappeared."
He yelled to his wife for help, and she threw a rope and called their son, Dan, who lives with them. The son said the scene "was like a horror picture."
A neighbor who heard the commotion ran over to help — but the ground gave way again, swallowing him and the son. The neighbor crawled out and passers-by tried to hold onto the others until the Huntington Fire Department arrived.
Firefighters lassoed the two men and hauled them out. What's really disturbing about this story is that this is not the first incident where a cesspool gave way in Huntington. A man died in one in 2001 and another was rescued from one in 1998. I'm not at all familiar with requirements on Long Island regarding sewage, but I wonder if these are "cesspools" or really septic tanks. A cesspool is a very, very old method of collecting waste while the more modern septic system has been in use for many years. If anyone is familiar with the codes in Long Island, I'd be interested in hearing which systems are in service in that area.
Weird Stuff | Gaius Monday, 24 April , 2006
By chez Diva, Monday, 24 April , 2006 @ 6:36 pm
Oh dear, that is simply awful. I can’t imagine what an ordeal those poor people had to endure.
By Gauis Arbo, Monday, 24 April , 2006 @ 6:41 pm
I don’t think I would be real happy had it happened to me. On the bright side - they have the mother of all party stories to tell now.