ST. LOUIS — Residents in a Midtown apartment building woke up Monday morning to frozen pipes and no heat.
Fire crews were called out to the Heritage House Apartments on Olive Street in Midtown sometime before midnight for multiple broken water pipes. Those broken pipes caused the building to flood as residents attempted to mop up the mess on Monday morning.
On top of that, the St. Louis Fire Department posted online that the heat in the building was not working.
A community member told 5 On Your Side that the building has over 200 residents, most of whom are elderly.
"I woke up about 1:30 a.m. and saw the water coming from the front room into my bedroom. It's coming in from the hallway, it's coming from the apartment next door, and it's also coming from my ceiling," said Debra Costello, a resident at Heritage House Apartments.
Residents said they're frustrated as people have been without heat for two days.
"The water must have come from a broken pipe that started on the 11th floor. So it's from 11, and it's coming all the way down to the first floor where the offices are. Plaster is falling everywhere," said Lettie Moore, a resident at Heritage House Apartments.
Another resident said she'd been awake since 3 a.m. on Monday checking on neighbors and trying to figure out what was going on in the frigid building.
"It is so very cold," Marlissa Brawner, secretary of the Vivian Whitley Foundation, said. The foundation was providing materials and moving efforts at Heritage House today.
"I can see my breath whenever I talk," Brawner said. "Water is coming from God knows where. It being as cold as it is, my concern is that all of the water is going to turn into ice."
5 On Your Side has reached out to Heritage House Apartments but has yet to hear back.
The St. Louis Fire Department said relocation efforts for the residents were underway.
Many now need to move in with family, to hotels or Airbnbs. If there are any locations in the area willing to donate space to many of these seniors who can't live in their apartments due to the flooding, contact the property manager at Heritage House Apartments,
"They tell us that when the water dries up, and they get some plumbing done, then the heat will circulate and come back in," Kinsella Berry a resident of Heritage House said. "But no one has told us anything."
The property manager with Sansone Group along with other aides were performing wellness checks Monday afternoon for folks still inside their apartments. Several local organizations providing whatever services or materials they can over the next few days.
"Including bringing in food and blankets, whatever can be of assistance because the residents do not know how long it would take to get the heating back on," president general of the Universal African Peoples Organization, Zaki Baruti, said. "It just pains my heart to see the conditions that are impacting the people."
"We've got elderly residents who, some of them are in wheelchairs. They've got canes," Brawner said. "So a situation that is already hard for them to move around, this just makes things ten times worse."
If you're interested in making donations of any items like hot beverages, shelf-stable food, coats, clothes or even socks, please contact the Vivian Whitley Foundation so they can pick the items up. Email Raine Houston with Vivian Whitley at rainehouston@yahoo.com.
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