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Inniswold Road off Jefferson Highway closed due to emergency sewer repair
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ST. GEORGE - Inniswold Road is closed between Jefferson Highway and Tatum Avenue due to an emergency sewer repair.
St. George officials say city-parish crews are performing sewer repair; they conducted an initial inspection Thursday night and crews were onsite early this afternoon for asphalt removal. The closure is expected to remain in place until 7 p.m.
Sesh Mental Health Therapy is one business along Jefferson High that was impacted by the sewage line backup.
"We gaslit ourselves into thinking it was us. And as it turns out, it is not. And now we have a building that is covered in waste," Sam Giamanco, the owner of the business, said.
The city-parish said it found asphalt in the sewage line around the area where there's road work along Jefferson Highway. A contractor is working to break up the asphalt.
The business has had continuous backups, which have forced them to strip the floors and walls multiple times.
"Cut sheetrock, we've had to pull up flooring on more than one occasion. We've had, I mean, it's been, we've had to demo cabinets and stuff because it's all inside of it. So like we've been trying to manage as much as we can," Cherie Guidry, a psychotherapist with the company said.
Neighbors told WBRZ they just want the rancid stench to be dealt with.
"We would love to be able to do what we're actually good at, and this isn't what I'm good at. So if I could get somebody who is good at this to help with this, so I can simply provide mental health along with her for everyone else, that would be so great," Giamanco said.
Giamanco told WBRZ the incident will leave her business closed. No patients will be able to receive therapy until this is resolved, corrected, decontaminated, and rebuilt.
The plan is to video the sewer system in this area early next week to confirm all asphalt has been removed. The city-parish says there will be no issues once all asphalt has been removed from the system. The majority of the asphalt, if not all of it, has been removed and the system is no longer on bypass, officials said.
According to city officials, the Louisiana Department of Transportation is performing major road reconstruction along Jefferson Highway in and around the area affected.
WBRZ reached out to the Department of Transportation about the repair, a spokesperson said the issue is being looked into and work records will be pulled to determine the responsible party and make sure it does not happen again.
Drivers are advised to use an alternate route. Affected customers should contact the Wastewater Collections office at 225-389-4858.
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