'Appreciate What You Have': Residents Briefly Return To Dallas Apartment Complex Following Explosion
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - About 250 Dallas residents are still displaced after the gas explosion last week at an Oak Cliff apartment complex.
Hilda Ventura is one of them. For her and her family, life this past week has become chaos.
"Right now we are just sitting," Ventura said. "We don't really know what's going to happen."
She's been uprooted from her Highland Hills apartment as a result of last Wednesday's explosion.
"Right now we are grabbing stuff because we need a change of clothes," Ventura said.
Monday night, Oct. 4, she made a quick trip home for necessities before making her way back to a downtown Dallas hotel.
Rooms for those displaced have been arranged and booked through the Dallas Office of Emergency Management, but are being paid for by the apartment's owner.
It's where renters will be at least until Wednesday, but past that, plans haven't been secured.
Especially as many hotel rooms are booked for the Texas/OU game at the Cotton Bowl this weekend.
The apartment's management told CBS 11 on Monday that the unaffected units would have gas back by the evening.
Though residents say they weren't told the same.
"Well the apartment complex hasn't really been telling us anything yet," said tenant Samina Seamster. "I just hope that they don't forget about us," she said.
Families say, with no where else to go, and little financial support, they feel overwhelmed.
"This is an apartment for people who are low income," Ventura said. "So we don't really have the choice, so we have to get what we have."
For now, families are taking with them as much normalcy as they can, hoping life will return to normal soon.
"Appreciate what you have, and just keep in mind that one day you're up and you never know when you're going to be down," Ventura said.