STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

document.write(getElapsed("20060201T192057Z"));
1 hour agoUPDATED 59 MINUTES AGO

BETHPAGE, N.Y. - Oil's not well at the Tesoriero home. A driver for a Long Island company mistakenly pumped at least 50 gallons of heating oil into the family's Bethpage home through a long-idle filler pipe after misreading the address on a bill, said Juliann and Edward Tesoriero, who were forced from their home by the error.

The oil flooded their basement and rendered the house uninhabitable for at least a month due to the fumes, the couple said. Everything in the basement _ including carpeting, furniture and pictures _ was ruined.

The couple was out running errands on Tuesday morning. They returned home to find the unwanted delivery.

"When we came home, we smelled it," said Juliann Tesoriero. "There was liquid on the floor of the basement and we said, 'Oh my God, it's oil.'"

Neighbors confirmed their assessment, telling the Tesorieros that a truck from the Benit Fuel Oil company of Smithtown had just made the delivery. The oil was intended for another house on their suburban Long Island street.

Benit General Manager Dennis Barlow said the driver pumped 50 gallons of oil through the pipe before realizing the mistake less than a minute into the delivery. The Tesorieros estimated it was 150 gallons.

"We are doing everything we can for the people," Barlow said. "We hired a company to restore the house."

The homeowners said they had switched from oil to natural gas about 35 years ago, although the pipe on their property remained intact.

"You can't even breathe in there," said Edward Tesoriero, adding that they would be staying at a hotel until they could return home.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.