Yonkers officials offering aid after gas leak leaves hundreds of tenants without hot water
YONKERS, New York (WABC) -- Hundreds of residents who live at an apartment complex in Yonkers have no hot water or a way to cook following a gas leak that could take some time to repair and get gas mains back up and running.
In response, Mayor Mike Spano, police and other city and state leaders gathered at the Palisade Towers in Southwest Yonkers on Thursday to meet with residents and offer assistance.
All eight buildings at the complex are without gas. That's 415 units.
Officials say a series of gas leaks forced the emergency shut down of the gas lines on Wednesday. Since then, tenants have had no hot water and cannot cook.
"Frankly, we have to walk very gingerly this is obviously a health and safety issue - so we are working with Con Ed as I said on the electric grid to figure out what we can transfer to the electric grid," said Wilson Kimball, CEO of the Yonkers Housing Authority.
On Thursday, hundreds of residents waited in line to receive hot plates that were being handed out.
The Municipal Housing Authority says boilers are being hooked up so hot water can be restored for buildings six, seven and eight on Thursday - and buildings one through five on Friday.
Two hundred gift cards are also being given out to help with food in the meantime.
Many of the tenants are thankful for the help but are still understandably frustrated.
Some packed into a room Thursday to hear what the mayor had to say.
"We're going to get those boilers up and running, and then of course we have to fix the gas mains so that we can get these buildings back in operation," Spano said. "And that is a process because Con Ed says they call it "red tag." They red tag the building and then everything has to be disconnected. We've got to fix it and then everything has to be put on, one by one, bit by beat because they have to make sure there's no leak."
Eyewitness News also heard from a woman whose sickly mother lives at the complex.
"Shocked, yes, because there was no notification yesterday," said Amy Weatherspoon, the daughter of one of the tenants. "She went to a doctor's appointment and came back and found out she had no gas and no hot water. My mother is sick."
Other tenants have kids who are about to start school.
"We lost our hot water and our gas so we can't cook - especially us who have children at home it's very hard, and this was last minute," tenant Ebony Henderson said.
"Of course, people are outraged - it's right before school starts. How am I supposed to get my son to shower before school starts?" tenant Jada Wilson said.
City leaders explained that they have been trying to get a permanent fix in place that would require upgrading the entire system and switching from gas to electric, but they blamed a delay in federal funding on not being able to accomplish that.
For now, they are focused on getting residents what they need in this emergency as crews work to get the gas back on.
City leaders and emergency services will be back at the complex on Friday to continue distributing food and other supplies to residents impacted by the gas leak.
"We're going to make sure we do everything we can because it's quality of life - it's your quality of life," Spano said.
Stew Leonard Jr., of Stew Leonard's, will also be on hand to donate 385 bags of food - one for every apartment in the complex.
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