‘We need help’: sewage crisis hits majority-Black town in New York

Sewage and wastewater infrastructure is collapsing all over Mount Vernon city, with old, corroded and overburdened pipes

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The sewer lines in Linda McNeil's neighborhood got so clogged during the pandemic that she had to use a 16-gallon wet vac to suck up her own toilet waste and tub water. As Covid cases surged in the fall and winter, McNeil, 68, wheeled the wet vac outside every day and emptied the contents down an opening in the manhole cover at the top of her driveway.

The smell in her home burned her eyes and made her cough. She couldn't sleep through the night.