JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Only on Action News Jax, a Jacksonville man says internet fiber crews tore through his yard and left behind far more than cable lines \u2014 about $75,000 worth of damage. Grant Helm says the work wrecked his sewer pipe, sending raw sewage spilling into his home.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sewage started pouring from the shower drain, the toilet, a sink that\u2019s been removed. This was a closet \u2014 it\u2019s now open to the living room,\u201d Helm said, walking through the home he has lived in for the last six years.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy 3-year-old ran back to the bedroom and said, \u2018Daddy, we have water.\u2019 I said, \u2018A little bit of water or a lot of bit of water?\u2019 he said, \u2018A lot of bit of water,\u2019\u201d Helm said.<\/p>\n
Cell phone video shows water-soaked carpet and floors, evidence of the flooding that crept through the home.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe got mops, buckets, everything out,\u201d Helm said.<\/p>\n The problems began in November, after IQ Fiber crews dug through his yard as part of a neighborhood-wide project.<\/p>\n Helm said he later realized other homes had damage \u2013 but none as bad as his.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until we had a plumber come out that he asked, was anyone out digging in your yard? IQ Fiber was digging all the way through here,\u201d Helm said.<\/p>\n By January, a flood forced the family to temporarily leave their Brighton Drive home.<\/p>\n \u201cThe flood happened in January. They were digging from October to December,\u201d Helm said.<\/p>\n Now he faces a costly rebuild, much of it he says he will have to do himself.<\/p>\n \u201cFor insurance purposes, our policy only gave us at the time $25,000. Repairs are $75,000. I got an opportunity to learn the repairs myself,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Helm shared an email from JEA acknowledging the issue. It reads in part: \u201cGlad we were able to assist with your recent IQ Fiber mishap\u2026we know all too well how unresponsive they can be.\u201d<\/p>\n When Action News Jax contacted the fiber internet provider, it declined responsibility for Helm\u2019s property damage, saying in part, \u201cBased on JEA\u2019s inspection and follow-up, no evidence was identified indicating that IQ Fiber was responsible for the issue the homeowner recently experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n JEA provided Action News Jax with its own statement saying: \u201cJEA inspected our pipe at the connection point to ensure it was in good condition and serviceable for the customer. We could not make the assessment that work by IQ Fiber caused the pipe\u2019s collapse.\u201d<\/p>\n Helm is left with a torn-up home, a capped insurance policy, and stress. He says he would have liked help covering out-of-pocket expenses, but he\u2019s not expecting it.<\/p>\n \u201cMy family feels it more than I do. I\u2019m trying to keep a cup-half-full mentality\u2026 I\u2019m forced into a position to do this myself,\u201d Helm said.<\/p>\n But he says the cup isn\u2019t just half full \u2014 it\u2019s been topped off by neighbors who have lent tools, friends who have pitched in, and the community who has stepped up to help.<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Only on Action News Jax, a Jacksonville man says internet fiber crews tore through his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155238,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,74732,74729,74733,74730,74731,969,57586,116,118,117,501,634,15054,74734],"class_list":{"0":"post-155237","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action_news","9":"tag-brighton_drive","10":"tag-grant_helm","11":"tag-helm","12":"tag-helms","13":"tag-iq_fiber","14":"tag-jack","15":"tag-jack_jonah_gavino","16":"tag-jacksonville","17":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","18":"tag-jacksonville-news","19":"tag-jea","20":"tag-local","21":"tag-south_side","22":"tag-yona_gavino"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155237\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}