Slaughterhouse runoff turns family basement into bloodbath

It was a literal bloodbath.

An Iowa family was horrified when their basement became inundated with a flood of animal blood of biblical proportions. The nearly half-foot-deep plasma pool was thick with fat and bones, like a giant ghoulish, bowl of menudo.

The Lestina family of Bagley, Iowa, claims the grisly scene was caused by runoff from a meat locker next to their home. Homeowner Nick Lestina says his family had been neighbors with the Dahl’s Custom Meat Locker for over a decade without any issues — until earlier this month.

A change in ownership resulted in extreme negligence, Nick alleges, which came to a head when the plant’s new owner, Katelyn Dahl, flushed the refuse from slaughtered cows and hogs down the drain on Oct. 3.

Dahl said she believes the floor drain empties into “a tile,” which likely joins the Lestina’s floor drain by the same pipe. The shoddy design allowed blood to pool in the Lestinas’ basement, resulting in disgusting sights and smells that Nick “wouldn’t wish on anybody,” he told Salt Lake City’s Fox13.

The gruesome aesthetics were the least of the Lestinas’ worries. The Iowa Department of Health advised the family of seven to relocate, because their home is a potential biohazard.

The Bible-evoking river of blood also destroyed many items in their basement — including a bed they were saving for their 1-year-old son — and would’ve caused more damage if it weren’t for Nick’s quick cleanup.

“I’m looking into thousands of dollars with cleanup, over $2,000 just to sanitize the basement,” he said. “I don’t have thousands of dollars to throw away at this.”

And despite attempts by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to get Dahl and the Lestinas to reconcile, the Meat Locker company refuses to cover any cleanup costs, according to Nick.