Ok here we go

I want to try taking a different approach to telling our story and what all we have and are still going through.

So let's start a few years back here.

Jeremy and I started dating in our later 20s. At that point he had already bought this house that became our home. All seemed good. Fast forward a year or so and we started to notice more frequent water problems... Jeremy got to work on the yard to help divert water. Each storm it got worse.

We then had our first baby. He was born in the winter so we got to enjoy his tiny time and not have to worry about the yard as much. Then came spring melt... that was the first year it really started to get out of hand. Rain storms flooded our yard. It didn't even have to be a huge storm. Our basement problems started..

Again my husband got straight to work. Not only was he working his normal job plus overtime but he was also working at my job to help out as well on top of dealing with all of this. The house was dug around down the the footing, drain tile replaced and the walls completely sealed for extra measure. During that time the sump in our basement was also busted out and a much larger one was put it. We knew this was a necessity as the frequency of our yard being flooded was getting to be far to often...

DONT FORGET AMOUNGST ALL THIS MADNESS WE GOT MARRIED!!

That did not go as planned as the world was shutting down... we didn't let that stop us ❤️

For a couple years it was an ongoing battle that seemed terrible at the time. Little did we know it was only going to get worse. Calls were made multiple times to city works only to be left with nothing and no help.

In 2022 our basement backed up... the sanitation sewer line backed up so much so fast that it was knocking over stacks of large heavy totes filled with my fabrics. Things were floating from room to room. The amount of stuff destroyed and lost was devastating. Things we could not get back. We had to tear down the built out basement. Cleaning was intense. We filed a claim with the city of Hibbings insurance as this was caused from their sewer lines and failed stormwater system. Only to be told the city was not responsible.... They claimed the city does not use the ditch over hear for storm water run off..

2023 same situation.. I was pregnant and trying to help deal with a basement that had a ridiculous amount of water. This one took out more brand new appliances.. we had to pay for help as i couldn't carry much..

We had our second baby!!! he was born in the summer so as we were taking care of his tiny little self, his brother and battling and storms. It was hectic and stressful to say the least

2024 yet again the same situation... Again taking out more new appliances.. knocking larger things over and so on.. more throwing away and cleaning followed as usual for us out here...

Tried to build out again. Ruined again. And again.

The sanitation back up has so much pressure it snapped our check valves/ water back flow valves.

It turns the toilet in our basement into a fountain. Literally spraying "water" about 2ft or so out of it. I can literally hear the pressure pushing so hard that I can hear it as it blows out my drains and toilet from upstairs. When downstairs we hear it before we see it.. This is not ok. I keep buying and keep a stack of cheap towels to shove down our drains and toilet trap to prevent as much water coming in as we can... This does not stop it but it helps keep it from being fountains.. there is no reason that with a full size towel shoved in our toilet trap we should still have to run a sump pump in the toilet but sadly that is what we have to do during all this...

Here we are in 2025 and this is still on going..we did install a new check valve. The water pressure on the sanitaion sewer line is still so high that it was pushing around it We have learned more and more now though... the city has known about this issue for years... infact in 2011/2012 they had an engineering company quote the project for the stormwater run off ditch and pounds out here. Ssdly that project did not get done.. Remember how insurance claimed the city doesnt use this ditch? That was a lie. And that project quote confirmed that.. we knew the whole time they do. We've been told by many city employees they do. We've also been given about 20 different reasons as to why they haven't cleaned that out in over 30yrs...

800+ acres worth of storm water is sent through our back yard :( you can see really good explanations of the stormwater system on Jeremy Facebook. It helps explain with a good visual for people to understand.

As of now the city plans to apply for a grant...

We have exhausted ourselves doing what we can to save our home. To list just a few We are talking thousands and thousands into the yard only to be washed away with each storm, sloping, added drainage systems and Jeremy cleared out the stormwater ditch thats runs the entirety of our property (it runs across our personal property) and the 2 neighboring properties after us. If we could have afforded it he'd have cleaned the neighbors properties prior to us as well... but we just dont have the funds...

Now before I go on with this i want to point out we are not the only house over here dealing with these issues. So please understand it is nothing we are or are not doing.. I know of at least 7 houses out here dealing with such issues.

This causes all of us to be stuck in an unsafe and unsanitary condition. We cant sell our homes. Who would buy them? They're flood hazards..

Now on to the contractors.

The city/hpu had Maintance work that was due. Completely understandable. Things need maintaining, replacing and repairing. We are not mad that such work needed to be done. But... the contractors hired... last summer 2024 waterline work was needed on 41st street. This meant we were apart of that on our little dead end road. This project had all of us hooked up to a temporary above ground waterline being back fed through our spigot. Plumbers came in to our home to shut of the main water feed. While doing this they broke the main shut off valve causing water to run into our basement. They said nothing and just left.. we had to call puc emergency line to come shut off the actual water source to our home... what a mess. Could not have over sized vehicles do any deliveries ( really needed more gravel and such) due to the water line running across the road. Yard damage. Minimal if any warnings of changes or anything. We were blocked in and out of our home so many times its was crazy. Again we live on a dead end road... there were more problems on top of these.

Not this year's project

More waterline work. This time it was a large 30in main line. This involves work the entire length of our road and continues on through the woods to Wagner and so on. 2025 summer has been awful. Driveways blocked, verbal assaults, accusations of theft, PROPERTY DAMAGES, speeding down the deadend road endangering my family, leaving open excavations with no fencing or anything. They were talked to many times. They know we have kids. They simply dont care. This one is endless. Id be here forever typing this out if I listed it all..

My family is not safe in this home.. Our children are not getting the life they deserve. I can only imagine the blind health hazards despite the intense cleaning done time and time again.

Our sweet Patrick is autistic. He can not understand why so much of his stuff have had to be thrown away. He does not understand why he cant be outside which is his favorite thing. He is a runner, we need a fence for him but we can not due this as it will just get washed out of the ground with the flooding...

Our tiny Tanner is now at the stage of realizing his things have gone missing and is heart broken when he cant find them. Hes also an outside lover and has missed out on so much due to all this endless craziness.

My husband works. He works a lot and he works a job that is physically demanding and then has to come home only to get no break and continue to work. He never gets a break. NEVER... Years of this has mentally and physically drained him. To say he is stressed is an understatement.

Please understand this is not in perfect order, perfect wording or spell checked. I just want to get info out there so people can somewhat understand why we need to get out of here.. This is not a perfect factual "document" I am just a mom and wife trying to share our ongoing problems and concerns. If you made it this far I thank you for taking the time to read my story

Saving fumds has not been an option as everything keeps going into repairs, replacemens and so on:( with that being said we have a gofundme going... we have to get out of this house. We hate that we have to ask for help but are genuinely at a loss here.. We know times are tough for many and recognize any and all help! Even simply sharing and getting it out there is greatly appreciated! Kindness is a core value in our family and never goes unnoticed ❤️