Tenants living in one South Florida apartment complex have less than 24 hours to move out of their homes after their building was deemed unsafe because of problems with the sewer system. NBC6’s Niko Clemmons reports
Tenants living in one South Florida apartment complex have less than 24 hours to move out of their homes after their building was deemed unsafe because of problems with the sewer system.
Residents of the Pierce House apartment complex in Hollywood said the news caught them by surprise.
"Basically, they're kicking us out no matter what, we have no place to go,” Erica Lomba said.
"I was told personally by him Friday, don't worry about it, everything will be okay,” Saleem Anthony said.
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Workers with the city of Hollywood showed up to the Pierce House apartment complex Tuesday to warn tenants they had 24 hours to leave. The city posted notices last week deeming the building unsafe because of problems with the sewer system, which makes living there unsanitary.
Video shows muddy water with scraps of toilet paper and human feces coming up from the pipes that appear to have been uncapped.
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Officials said the septic system broke down, the drain field pipes collapsed, and the lift stations that pump the raw sewage out into the septic system are malfunctioning.
The city says this is because the property owner has ignored annual inspections and hasn't had the pumping station looked at in over three years.
"The police, fire department, inspectors were here,” Lomba said. "What am I going to do? I don't know because I have no place to go."
However, tenants said Tuesday's visit and news from the city came as a shock.
Lomba said she was told to go to a shelter and call the Red Cross, but that's not something she wants to do.
"How are they going to close the building just like that with no notice?" Lomba said.
The city said tenants can keep their belongings at home while they work on the problems. There's no word how long that could last.
"I'm a little disheartened, I don't know what I'm going to do right now,” Anthony said.
Anthony is like many of his neighbors, who now have to figure out where they're going to live.
"It's just stress on top of trying to make sure you go to work and take care of your life,” Anthony said. "It's no reason that anyone who lives here should be living with wastewater behind the house."
The city said they will cut off the water to the building sometime Wednesday. The city says they've tried to get in touch with the property owner, Twenty Two R E LLC, but they are not responding.
NBC6 also called and texted the owner but received no response.
