Power, heat, and water restored after one-day outage in Queens apartment buildings

FAR ROCKAWAY, Queens (WABC) -- Power, heat, and water is back on for thousands of people at a small village of apartment buildings in Queens.

The apartment necessities, especially during this frigid weather, were lost for approximately 24 hours all thanks to corroded power lines.

Jakea Williamson told Eyewitness News there was 'no chance' she would spend the night in her Far Rockaway apartment. She and her 8-month-old son were planning to join the rest of the family in Jamaica to spend the night with in-laws.

"I had to pack their stuff, their stuff for school tomorrow," said Williamson. "Their school is in this area; that means I'm going to have to drive back and forth to Far Rockaway. I work in Queens, so it's going to be horrible."

According to management at the Ocean Bay Apartments in Far Rockaway, corroded lines knocked out the power in this 9-story high-rise. This brought down the heat and water controls for the entire 28-building complex, which has 1,400 residential units.

"We got the generators here and they're working and we should have power up to them within the next few hours," said Susan Cammarato of Wavecrest Management. "In the meantime, try to be patient and stay warm. It's the best we can do."

"Two bottles of water, that's it," said tenant Jennifer Lewis. "That is all they gave us for the day and they expect us to use from 11:30 last night to now."

Contractors had hauled in three generators to power-up the building at the center of the outage. Smaller generators provided juice to light up the lobby and part of the stairwell. An MTA bus also served as a make-shift warming center.

Back inside, dirty dishes filled kitchen sinks, candles provided the only source of light, and frustration filled the air.

"I went to the 60's, the kid's grandmother's house. Had to drop the kids down there cause they couldn't go to school today," said tenant Jennifer Duncan. "Can't brush your teeth, go to the bathroom, toiled backed up. Come on, that's ridiculous."

The power came on around 10 p.m. and water and heat were expected back on within an hour after that.