Raw Sewage Flooded Their Homes. They Finally Know Why.

Two days after Thanksgiving, Ricardo McKenzie smelled a strange odor in his house in the middle of the night.

By noon, his brother Karim, 33, who lived in the basement apartment of the home in Queens, watched, stunned, as raw sewage gushed out of his toilet and bathtub like a fountain. Ricardo McKenzie, 39, said he called 911 repeatedly while his family tried to remove the waste water with sump pumps.

“Seeing your items just float in sewage,” Karim said, “was just utter shock.”

Officials initially suggested that grease being poured down a sink was a possible cause of the Nov. 30 accident that affected 127 homes in South Jamaica. Residents felt they were being blamed.

But after an investigation, the city’s Department of Environmental Protection has determined that the flooding was caused by a collapsed pipe, according to a report obtained by The New York Times that has not been released publicly — leaving the city liable for damage claims that could reach millions of dollars.