Residents at SF luxury apartment displaced after pipe bursts, flooding all 35 floors
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Residents of a San Francisco building that flooded on Friday are still wondering when they can go back home.
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Water started gushing into apartments Friday afternoon at 33 Tehama.
Residents say they were told right then to evacuate but many did not realize they would not be allowed back in. They say they did not take enough stuff with them.
"One change of clothes, some dog food and our dog. We had to walk down over 20 flights holding just what we could carry so we don't have much at all," said Stephanie Sun Woo.
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Residents said Tehama management moved them Friday to paid-for hotel rooms. But Monday morning brought about a new set of problems. The hotel front desk staff told them the rooms are only paid for through 11:00 a.m. Monday.
"I have no place to go after 11 today. I don't know where I will be working from, I don't know where I will be taking my belongings or where I will sleep tonight," Sun Woo said Monday outside her hotel building.
Other residents corroborated her story.
"Right now, we are waiting to hear from Tehama where we are staying tonight. The hotel has told us to check out today and I've heard nothing. So a lot of us just want to know where we are sleeping tonight," Tyler Patterson said Monday.
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He says this is his second time being displaced from the building because of water damage.
"Both times the building has been unresponsive and uncommunicative," said Patterson.
His lease is up in July, he does not plan to renew.
Matt Dorsey, the Supervisor who represents the neighborhood, says he and his staff are working with residents to try and help them and figure out what will be happening next. He says the fire department told him the cause of the flooding was a 6-inch pipe that burst, flooding all 35 floors of the building.
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ABC7 reached out to building management, Willowick Residential, who released the following statement:
A water leak that began around 2 p.m. on Friday, June 3, at 33 Tehama caused flooding in parts of the building and a mandatory evacuation.
We are working diligently to make repairs and restore safety systems and utilities. We are conducting an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the water leak at the property.
The safety and well-being of our residents is our top priority, so immediately upon closing the building we provided our tenants with hotel accommodations. We are continuing to work with our residents to address their needs and provide access to their units on an appointment basis, as the building remains closed while we assess the damage.
At this time, we do not have a time frame for re-opening. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
We are grateful to the San Francisco Fire Department for their work in responding to the problem and for assistance during the evacuation.
We are appreciative of our residents' patience and understanding during this very difficult and disruptive situation. We are truly sorry for the inconveniences they are experiencing and are working around the clock to accommodate their needs.
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