ST. LOUIS — Roughly 200 residents forced from their Midtown apartment building due to the frigid temperatures are facing an uncertain future.
Many of the residents at Heritage House are elderly and had to leave all of their belongings when they were evacuated after a pipe burst flooding multiple apartments.
Cleora Johnson has lived at the Heritage House for the past 15 years.
“It’s home,” said Cleora Johnson. “I’ve had a lot of pleasant experiences and fortunately not too many bad ones.”
Early Monday morning, Johnson says she felt like she was living in a rainforest after a pipe burst on the 11th floor causing the building to be evacuated for the foreseeable future.
“I think I was in a daze because nobody knew what to do,” said Johnson. “It was just beyond everybody.”
Johnson is one of about 85 Heritage House residents who have temporarily been relocated to the Ballpark Hilton.
“We offered everyone the hotel option,” said Heritage House Property Manager Marquette Hamell. “Half went with family. Half came into the hotel.”
Property Manager Marquetta Hamell vowed to stick by her residents around the clock until they were able to return home.
“It’s my job to make sure that they have someone they know is watching the building, and them, and actually caring about their welfare,” said Hamell.
Hamell is making routine runs back to Heritage House to get essentials that residents left behind during the evacuation.
“If we need to go in and get some medicine and bring it out to them,” said Hamell. “If they need food or water we’re crying aloud and sparing none and making sure they’re served.”
“She’s been magnificent,” said Johnson. “Nobody could have handled the situation without prior knowledge of what to do because it’s never happened before.”
The Sansone Group, which owns Heritage House, has paid for residents to stay at the hotel until Friday morning.
“Right now, I don’t have a clue about where I would go,” said Johnson.
“We actually are waiting for Sansone and the specialists that we have called in to come and tell us when we will be back,” said Hamell. “However, we do know that they will never be without shelter.”
Work is currently underway to clean up the mess left behind at Heritage House
The GM of the Ballpark Hilton told 5 On Your Side he considers this a humanitarian situation and will house displaced residents until they can safely return home.
“I feel like I’m on vacation,” said Johnson. “Let them solve the problem. When they get it solved they’ll call me.”
Multiple community groups, including the Universal African People’s Organization, are collecting everyday goods such as toiletries and bottled water for displaced residents.
Anyone wishing to donate a meal to a displaced Heritage House resident is being asked to call the Ballpark Hilton.