Sometime last week, residents living on Vivian Street started having a hard time smelling the spring flowers in bloom or freshly cut lawns thanks to a combination of nearby problems that were causing a strong sewer smell to waft through the neighborhood.

The Oxford Public Works Department started receiving phone calls from Vivian residents last week and set out to find the cause of the sewer odor.

“It took us awhile to figure it out because there were actually two sources,” said Assistant Engineer Reanna Mayoral Thursday.

City crews discovered a broken sewer line last Thursday behind the Dollar General Store on North Lamar Boulevard.

“The sewer was backing up and flowing into the parking lot,” Mayoral said.

Dollar General was shut down by the city until the repairs are completed.

“On Friday, our crew was working on site with a plumber for Dollar General to determine the repairs needed,” Mayoral said. “We then received another call that afternoon about the smell. We attributed it to the Dollar General issues and the work being done that day, which included flushing the lines to be able to run a camera inside them.”

The calls stopped — for a couple of days, anyway.

On Wednesday, another call came into the Public Works Department about the smell being present again and crews were sent back out to the area to locate the problem.

“This morning (Thursday) we found a manhole behind the Mid-Town Shopping Center that was full of grease,” Mayoral said. “We have opened the manhole and the line up for now.”

Dollar General is continuing the work on its sewer line and remained closed Thursday. It’s unknown how long the busy store will remain closed. An email to the Dollar General Corporation was not immediately answered Thursday.