HOUSTON — A north Houston apartment complex defended itself in a statement Monday after city officials said residents were without power and help after Thursday's storm.
“They were out here without any electricity, no management checking on them,” said Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña. “A lot of them have told me directly they haven’t had anything to eat in quite a while.”
KHOU 11 was told that a majority of the people who live at Independence Hall Apartments, which is just off Burress Street and Airline Drive, have a disability, or are senior citizens, or both, so it's been difficult for them.
Power has since been restored to the facility but it wasn't before residents said they lost hundreds of dollars worth of groceries.
"I’ve lost food," said resident LaTonya Whitehead. "All my meat went bad. Got no money to replace it. None of that. I can understand one of the managers because of a family emergency, but the other two I can’t understand why they would just bolt and leave us high and hanging like this."
Property managers claim employees never abandoned the residents. In a statement emailed to KHOU 11, they claimed site personnel had been at the property since the day of the storm and were doing their best to help residents with whatever issues they had.
Mayor Whitmire took a firsthand look at the damage on Sunday and said the storm only brought to light the "deplorable conditions" of the property.
“The storm made it worse, but this unit has been neglected for years," he said.
Mayor Whitmire said he planned to find a way to help residents who called the facility home.
“I’m going to get the housing department to see what options we have, certainly with temporary care,” he said Sunday. “But they need long-term care.”
Below is the statement Independence Hall emailed to KHOU 11 on Monday:
There have been several news reports about Independence Hall in the past day that have been erroneous. The property is not an assisted-living property but rather an independent-living apartment complex with 292 units. No supportive services or meals are provided to the residents by the property. The property experienced damage during the severe weather last Thursday evening, which included losing power to the entire property and severe roof damage to one of the buildings. In addition, it was erroneously reported that the property had been abandoned by the site staff. The site personnel were out at the property Thursday night to assess damage and help any residents in need, and there have been site personnel on-site every day since Thursday. The power came back on late yesterday afternoon, which has restored air-conditioning to most of the residents. We are in the process of securing temporary air-conditioning units for any residents who are in need. We feel fortunate that the impact of the storm was not more severe.
Whitmire's office said city officials will return to the property Monday afternoon to assess the conditions.