Emotions flow after water main break

Furniture. Appliances. Computers. Clothing. Food. Toys. Photo albums.

Gone.

“Memories,’’ Lynne Rizzo said yesterday, her eyes welling. “My kids’ art projects. The little trinkets they made me for the past six years. . . . We lost everything.’’

Since the water invasion last Wednesday, the Rizzos, whose condo was filled with 5 feet of water, and several residents on Claremont Avenue have not been able to live in their homes. Anger has been rising over what residents say is a lack of response from the city over their plight. For five days, they say, they were on their own, sleeping on friends’ sofas, getting help from neighbors, coming to terms with the catastrophe.

Only yesterday, the Rizzos said, did the city offer them temporary housing at the Hampton Inn.

“I told them that it was a little too late,’’ said Lou Rizzo.

The Boston Water and Sewer Commission said it immediately responded to the scene to address residents’ problems, as well as to assess and repair the water main break, the cause of which is still being investigated, said spokeswoman Jeanne Richardson.

She said that crews have been at the site around the clock and that residents could approach them at any time to gain access to the agency’s claims department.

“Our people were there immediately,’’ Richardson said. “Our claims representatives spoke with people who indicated they had some damages. Our adjusters were out there talking to people all weekend.’’

Richardson said 18 people, including nine on Claremont and others from Greenwich Park and Columbus Avenue, have filed claims with the commission.

Although it has never been the agency’s practice to offer housing, she said, the commission made six rooms available at the Hampton Inn on Massachusetts Avenue, with the first offers extended to families on Friday. No one took the offer, she said.

But some Claremont Avenue residents said they had not heard from the commission about what caused the water main break or whether the city will pay for the damage.

“Nobody’s come here,’’ said Karen Monti, who said she will need roughly $50,000 to repair damage to the walls, ceiling, and floor of the finished basement of her townhouse. “Nobody told me I was going to be wiped out here.’’

Neal Kaiser, another Claremont Park resident, said his tenant’s ground-floor unit has been gutted.

“He lost everything,’’ Kaiser said. “There was so much water it tipped the fridge, broke the glass, and made holes in the wall. It’s just destroyed.’’

He said a claims representative from the Water Commission stoped by his home over the weekend and took measurements of the ground-floor unit. But he has heard nothing more.

Richardson said she cannot comment on claims with the agency and could not address whether the commission will pay for the damages.

“We’re going through a thorough claims process,’’ she said.

Since the year began, the city has had 35 water main leaks, many fewer than the hundreds that plague other main cities, Richardson said.

She credits the relatively low number to the $335 million she said the commission has spent since 1995 on infrastructure improvements.

That is little comfort to Lou and Lynne Rizzo, who decided to rent an apartment while their condo is being repaired.

They said they have called the mayor’s hotline and the commission several times, to no avail.

They have heard from a city claims representative and an adjuster visited Sunday, but the Rizzos are irked that they have been given no assurance they will be compensated for their home repairs and that the city took so long to send someone to check on their well-being.

“They clearly had no idea the extent of the damage,’’ said Lou Rizzo, who has three young children.

If it weren’t for friends who gave them shelter and assistance, they don’t know what they would have done.

“It’s been a nightmare,’’ Lynne Rizzo said. “Thank God for our friends.’’

Meghan E. Irons can be reached at mirons@globe.com.