ST. LOUIS — "We see a lot of water bottles, trash," Nicholle Spencer with the Metropolitan Sewer District said. "We've seen things like basketballs, skateboards, anything and everything that's laying in someone's yard or laying in the street ends up in the storm inlets."
Spencer took 5 On Your Side to an MSD worksite on Thursday. Using a large truck-sized vacuum, a two man crew worked to suck up debris.
Spencer said, "Just doing again everything we can to help make sure they are as clear as possible if we get those heavy rains."
Too much of anything causes a clog. If water can't flow, it flows into the street and neighboring homes. Something St. Louisans have seen almost any time there is a lot of rain in a short period time... hurricane related or not.
"If we have a situation where there is a lot of rain within a given area within a short period of time our system is only designed to hold so much," explained Spencer. "Any sewer system whether it's built or natural can only hold so much silt capacity. So when those systems become over capacity it's natural water is going to flow out of them"