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Charlotte families say high speed internet triggered home flooding

The flooding caused the ceiling to collapse in one home

CHARLOTTE — Could the installation of high-speed internet lead to home flooding? It doesn't sound possible, but some families in a south Charlotte neighborhood say that's exactly what happened.

They say it started when a contractor installing fiber lines for AT&T cut a watermain on Rolling Sky Drive on December 30.

When Charlotte Water repaired the main and turned water service back on, the families say the pressure was so strong that pipe connections separated and water began pouring into homes.

Homeowner Jeff Ziolkwski said water has been bubbling out of a toilet in his house for weeks -  seeping into the floorboards, carpets, and curtains.

"About 6 or 7 times it has overflowed with sewage and toilet paper everywhere," he said.

He said it began when the water main was cut.

That's when the issues started, not just in our house, but some of our neighbor's houses," he explained. "Unfortunately, no one has owned up to it at this point."

Another homeowner said flooding caused her ceiling to collapse and water and debris poured into the living room, master bedroom, and bathroom.

That homeowner said when Charlotte Water turned the water back on the pressure was so strong that the line connected to the valve under her master bath vanity separated. She said water spilled out for nearly four hours.

"Fortunately, we have homeowner's insurance, but it will take a lot of time and money to fix everything," said Ziolkowski.

Charlotte Water has been out twice. They looked at the watermain and claim it's not on their side.

AT&T didn't respond to our specific questions about the problems, but Director of Communications Josh Gelinas said in a statement:

"We have helped to position Charlotte as a gigabit city by bringing our fastest internet connections to more than 220,000 homes, apartments and small businesses in the area.  Our goal is to minimize impact on residents before, during and after construction and to keep them informed through a variety of means throughout the network expansion process.  If construction related issues do occur we work quickly to resolve and restore any impacts from our work"

Channel 9 has been covering problems with contractors installing fiber lines for years. There have been many broken gas lines, and in some cases the city has fined the contractor, but this is the first time we've seen flooding attributed to the work.

We've asked Charlotte Water for more details on the flooding issues and how many times they've been called to the neighborhood. A spokesperson said they're still working on our request.