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WTVR CBS 6
How bed bugs led to flooding at plagued Petersburg apartments
By Wayne Covil,
1 day ago
PETERSBURG, Va. -- The Carriage House Apartments, which have been plagued with problems over recent months, including when all the residents moved out for two months because of elevator issues, is now dealing with flooded apartments.
Carolyn Page, who has lived at the Petersburg apartment complex for 15 years, said Wednesday that the room she calls home is not safe to sleep in.
“All of a sudden, my bathroom just got drenched, got drenched with black water,” Page said. “I’m grateful nobody’s hurt.”
Page said a pest control company was working in the apartment above hers trying to rid the unit of bed bugs.
The Fire Marshal said the heat treatment that was used set off a sprinkler head.
“Sprinkler head has caused significant damage to the affected apartment and apartments below,” Chief Jim Reid, Petersburg’s Fire Marshal, said.
WTVR Carolyn Page
Page said the water was not just confined to her bathroom and damaged many of her belongings.
“It came on out of the bathroom, in my bedroom — and then the kitchen started flooding,” she said. “I lost my ceiling in the kitchen. The ceiling is gone in the bathroom.”
While Page said she has not had to deal with bedbugs, she said she does have a bigger problem: mice
Firefighters helped residents exit the building and then worked to slow water damage.
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All residents living in the apartment complex were forced to move out in April when the only two elevators in the building stopped working.
Two months later, they were allowed to move back in with only one elevator working. Residents said it continues to have issues.
In June the property’s owner said the second elevator would be replaced in July.
When the water finally stopped flowing, four apartments, a hallway and the building’s office area were damaged by flooding, Reid said.
“The ceiling fell down in the hallway, so they got some work to do,” Page said.
Firefighters helped those who could go back inside make it safely to their apartments.
CBS 6 senior reporter Wayne Covil reached out to Envolve Communities of Alabama, the company that owns Carriage House Apartments, to see where the displaced residents will go and for how long. But as of Wednesday afternoon, Covil had not heard back.
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