Sewage Backup Right Now? Call Us Immediately.
A sewer backup is not a problem you schedule for next week. Sewage inside your home is a health hazard. It damages flooring, walls, and personal property within hours. The longer it sits, the worse and more expensive the damage becomes. Raw sewage contains bacteria, pathogens, and gases that are dangerous to your family.
We respond to sewer emergencies across Monroe, West Monroe, Sterlington, Swartz, Calhoun, and all of Ouachita Parish around the clock, every day of the year including weekends and holidays. We do not charge overtime rates for evening, weekend, or holiday calls. The price is the same whether you call at 2 PM on a Tuesday or 2 AM on a Sunday.
What Counts as a Sewer Emergency
Sewage backing up into your home through floor drains, toilets, or tubs
This is the most serious sewer emergency and requires immediate response. Stop using all water in the home. Do not flush any toilets. Call us now.
Complete loss of drain function throughout the home
If no drains in your home are working, your main sewer line has fully blocked or collapsed. You cannot use your home normally without a functioning sewer line.
Sewage odors suddenly and strongly present inside the home
Strong sewage smell without visible backup can indicate a sewer line break that is releasing gas into the structure. This is a health hazard that needs same day attention.
Sinkholes or sudden ground depressions over the sewer line route
A sinkhole forming in your yard over where the sewer line runs indicates a pipe collapse or severe joint failure that is washing away the surrounding soil. This will worsen rapidly without intervention.
Sewer backup after heavy rain
Monroe receives significant rainfall throughout the year. Heavy rain can overwhelm aging sewer lines, particularly in older neighborhoods where the infrastructure has reduced capacity. If your home experiences sewer backup consistently after heavy rain events, call us for an emergency inspection.
What Happens When You Call
When you call our emergency line, you reach a technician directly. Not a voicemail. Not an answering service that takes a message. A person who can ask the right questions, assess the urgency of your situation, and dispatch a crew.
We ask you a few questions about what you are seeing, give you immediate guidance on what to do while we are on the way, including whether to shut off the water main, and dispatch the closest available crew to your location.
Our emergency vehicles are stocked with camera equipment, hydro jetting systems, augering equipment, and the materials needed for most common emergency sewer repairs. In most cases we can diagnose and resolve your emergency in a single visit.
Common Causes of Sewer Emergencies in Monroe
Root intrusion blockage
Tree roots that have been growing into a sewer line for months or years can suddenly create a complete blockage. Monroe's warm climate and mature tree canopy make this the most common cause of sudden sewer failure across the city. Root intrusion can go undetected until the blockage reaches a critical point and backs up into the home.
Orangeburg pipe collapse
Monroe homes built between 1945 and 1972 have a significant likelihood of containing Orangeburg sewer pipe. Orangeburg deteriorates over decades and can collapse suddenly when the pipe material finally fails under soil pressure. A pipe that showed no symptoms last week can collapse entirely this week. If your home is from this era and has never had a sewer inspection, you are at elevated risk.
Grease blockage in the main line
Years of grease accumulation in the main sewer lateral can reach a point where the pipe interior is narrowed enough that a single heavy use event triggers a full backup. This is especially common in Monroe's older cast iron main lines.
Heavy rain induced backups
When Monroe receives heavy rainfall, the ground becomes saturated and municipal sewer mains can experience elevated flow. In older homes with compromised sewer laterals, this increased pressure can trigger backups that would not occur under normal conditions.
Pipe offset from soil movement
Monroe's clay soil shifts significantly with seasonal moisture changes. Over time this can cause sewer pipe joints to offset to the point where flow is severely restricted or blocked entirely. An offset joint can reach a critical point and cause sudden backup without prior warning signs.
What To Do While Waiting for Our Crew
Stop using all water in the home immediately. Every gallon you put into the drain system adds to the backup inside your home.
Do not flush any toilets. Even if they appear to be flushing normally, the waste has nowhere to go if the sewer line is blocked and will back up through the lowest drain in the home.
If sewage has already entered your home, keep people and pets away from the affected area. Do not attempt to clean up sewage yourself without proper protective equipment.
If you smell strong gas odors in addition to sewage, evacuate the home and call both us and your gas company.
Turn off the main water supply to the home if sewage is actively entering living spaces.
After the Emergency is Resolved
Once we have cleared the immediate emergency, we provide a full written report of what caused the backup, what we did to resolve it, and what the condition of your sewer line is based on the camera inspection.
If the emergency was caused by a structural problem that will recur without a permanent repair, we explain the options clearly, give you a written estimate, and let you make an informed decision about next steps. We do not pressure you into immediate decisions after an emergency. We give you the information and the time to consider your options.