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L.I. Woman Suing Suffolk County For Sewage Overflow

BAY SHORE, N.Y. (1010 WINS) -- A Long Island woman is suing Suffolk County alleging she was sickened by raw sewage seeping into her home from a nearby treatment plant.

Laura Serrano, of Bay Shore, blames issues at the Bergen Point Sewage Treatment Plant for her Homan Avenue home being twice flooded by sewage – once in 2005 and again last March.

"We had approximately two and a half to three feet of raw sewage coming straight at us," Serrano told 1010 WINS' Carol D'Auria, "some of this raw sewage went into the Great South Bay, came into our crawl space, burst pipes in our home."

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1010 WINS Reporter Carol D'Auria talks with a woman who says she is sick from the raw sewage.

Serrano said she contracted meningitis, streptococcus and other illnesses that her doctors traced to bacteria from the sewage. She moved out of the waterfront home 3 years ago, but continues to pay her monthly mortgage of $3,100.

"I had hospital waste in my home -- airborne and in my soil," Serrano said.

An attorney for Suffolk County said it would vigorously defend itself to prove there was no connection between the sewage overflow and Serrano's medical condition.

Serrano said she wouldn't think of selling the house and letting someone else get sick.

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