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Pa. woman rescued from water, sewage-filled basement

Stairs had collapsed trapping the occupant in waist-deep water

Associated Press

BOYERTOWN, Pa. — Emergency officials say a Pennsylvania woman is recovering after being trapped for three days in a basement flooded with water and sewage.

Fire officials say the stairs collapsed Sunday as the woman checked on a circuit breaker, trapping her in waist-deep water in the dilapidated home’s basement.

A neighbor checking on the Douglass Township, Berks County woman discovered her Wednesday. Rescue crews needed nearly four hours to get the woman out.

Amity Township fire Chief Richard Ford says the tenuous structural condition of the house complicated efforts to get a dive crew into the water and free the woman. Officials say the basement likely filled with fetid water after a sump pump failed.

The woman was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.