Sewer blockage pushes waste into 300 New York City homes

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 69%. (I'm a bot)

A blocked sewer main flooded basements Saturday with brown filth and left residents in the neighborhood near New York City's Kennedy Airport feeling sickened by the stench.

Cynthia McKenzie said she woke up around 3 a.m. to an odor she thought was a gas leak, only to realize that sewage water was rushing into her basement.

"It's messy," said McKenzie, who posted photos showing murky water covering the floor of a basement bedroom and the bottom of a staircase.

The city's water agency says drinking water is safe and unaffected, but de Blasio advised residents to reduce usage to cut down on water going into the blocked main.

"This time of year we get a lot of grease blockages in sewers from residents that discharge grease," city environmental protection chief Vincent Sapienza told reporters.

The city opened a service center for affected residents at a nearby public school.

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