A burst water pipe flooded some apartments and knocked out the elevators at a housing authority apartment building for seniors - causing a major disruption for the people living there. NY1’s Erin Clarke filed the following report.
“It's like a waterfall. It's like Niagara Falls.”
That is what residents of the Max Meltzer Towers on the Lower East Side came home to Wednesday night.
A pipe on the second floor burst around 8:45 p.m., flooding apartments on that floor the below, and a health-care center in the building run by Mount Sinai Hospital.
The flow of water did not stop until well after midnight.
"I called NYCHA emergency number, nobody answered. Then I called 311 and they connected me to the fire department. The fire department came. They could not turn off the water," said resident Harold Boyd.
He said his apartment had about two to three inches of water. Workers had to come in with squeegees and an electric pump to push it down the hallway, which may have caused a ripple effect.
“I had to walk up 18 flights. Why? Because it was raining inside of the elevators," said one woman.
It is an obstacle too great for many senior residents of this NYCHA complex to overcome.
“There are people in wheel chairs, walkers and they can't go down the stairs and they need the elevators," said another woman.
But this isn't a surprise to residents who live here. They say there are many problems in this building."
"I've heard a lot of people say there's water leaking in the roof," one resident said.
In addition, residents tell NY1 it is not uncommon for at least one of the elevators to be out of service at any given time.
The city's Housing Authority said it stopped the flooding, which was caused by a pipe leak behind a wall, and that workers were making repairs.
It is a fix for now, but the resident wonder how long until the next problem arises.