11 N.J. apartment buildings deemed unsafe after ceilings collapse

EDISON, N.J. – Nearly a dozen apartment buildings in Edison were deemed unsafe Friday after ceilings collapsed in two different units.

Eleven of the 12 buildings at the Evergreen Meadows apartment complex on White Birch Road are affected.

Edison Mayor Sam Joshi said in a post on Facebook that a ceiling collapsed in the living room of an apartment on Aug. 3, prompting local officials to issue an unsafe structure notice to the complex's management. A person who was in the room at the time of the collapse suffered minor injuries.

Then, around 4 a.m. Friday, another ceiling in a different building collapsed in someone's bedroom. The fire chief told CBS News New York's Lisa Rozner the person who was in that room also suffered only minor injuries, but a baby was sleeping right next door.

Joshi said all 12 buildings were evacuated and 11 were deemed unsafe due to structural problems. There is a total of about 280 units in the 11 buildings.

When asked about the cause of the collapses, Joshi said, "We wouldn't say it's weather-related because it's an ongoing issue that happened for a while, but we do believe that the heat could have contributed to the expansion of some of the wood and the nails coming out."

"You can actually see where the sheetrock is bowing between, and you can see where the nails are actually pulling through the sheetrock. The sheetrock's like pulling off the nails. It's not the nails coming out of the trusses, it's the sheetrock is failing almost, like it's not being held up there ... We're finding that in every one of the buildings," said construction code official John Soltesz.

In a statement, management company Garden Communities said:

"We can confirm that multiple buildings at Evergreen Meadows were evacuated on Friday, August 9, following an inspection indicating potential safety issues. We are grateful for the support and assistance our residents have received from the Township during a stressful situation, and we are committed to working toward a resolution that will ensure their ability to return safely to their homes as soon as possible."

The mayor said the management company sent multiple contractors to fix the problem Friday, so residents may only be out of their homes for a few days. For now, the company is putting them up at nearby hotels and residents with questions can go to a nearby senior center.