North Texas apartments still dealing with the aftermath of freezing temperatures
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) — Some apartments across North Texas are still dealing with the aftermath of this past week's frigid temperatures.
On Tuesday, Sterlingshire apartment residents crowded in the parking lot to express just how fed up they are with the property's management. Many say they've gone days without heat or water in their units.
"I lost water since before Christmas...the day before Christmas," one resident said.
Ariel Garcia, the administrator for Dallas' Western Division of Code Compliance, said these are absolutely terrible conditions.
"We hate to hear any citizen have to go without," Garcia said.
Dallas Code Compliance has been on site investigating. They say the problems stem from frozen pipes that caused major leaks and outages, and that technicians are on site working to fix it.
However, residents say not enough is being done.
"The whole house is cold...we can only put on so many clothes to stay warm," Kimberly Hodge said.
Hodge uses a motorized scooter to get around, but she says the elevators in her building have been out since Friday.
"I've been trapped in my home since Friday due to the elevators not working, now we have no water, no heat, and you have elderly stuck up on the fourth floor because they can't leave their homes," Hodge said.
The elevator is back on as of Tuesday evening, but still—she says she's worried how she would manage in an emergency.
"It was devastating. I'm [in] panic mode 24/7 because most of the time I am home alone and what if a fire breaks out? What am I supposed to do?" Hodge said.
The city delivered a truck full of water pallets for tenants and a private citizen even pitched in to bring 70 more pallets.
"My bossman saw it online, so he says he's gonna buy some water," said Michael Crosby, who drove a truck full of water into the complex Tuesday afternoon. "He's doing what he can do."
Code Compliance says they'll be holding the property accountable until the problem is fixed.
NRP Group, the owner of the property, has since stated the following:
"Our on-site management and maintenance teams have been diligently working to resolve the weather-related water issues as quickly as possible. All residents continue to have power and our team is actively working to restore water for those impacted residents."
And the Sterlingshire apartments are not alone. At the Lake Colony apartments in Garland, residents like Brittney Serrano haven't had water since Christmas Eve.
"When they turned water back on it started coming through the wall," Serrano said.
Other residents have had to use their pool to fill up jugs just to flush their toilets.
Plumbers have since been trying to locate and fix the leaks, and property management and volunteers have also provided bottled water for tenants to use for their daily needs.
"It's been difficult but at least we have heat and electricity," Serrano said.