Water line break forced dozens of seniors to evacuate apartments
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RAYTOWN, Missouri (KCTV KSMO) — A water line break forced dozens of seniors to evacuate their apartments Monday morning and seek refuge at a nearby church.
The Raytown Deputy Fire Chief Mike Hunley says they are trying to get a mobile boiler so residents at Temple Heights Manor in Raytown can return to their apartments. But at this point, it’s unclear if that will happen. It’s more likely they will be out of their units overnight into Tuesday.
Firefighters helped evacuate people about 7 a.m. Monday to 5420 Blue Ridge Cutoff . When the fire department got there they found the sprinkler line in the basement of the building ruptured. The four-inch line dumped water into the basement. There were about 5 feet of water in the boiler room which damaged the boiler, resulting in no heat in the building.
This comes amid record-setting and dangerous cold temperatures that begin the day around -8 with wind chill readings near -30.
Most of the water has been cleared out, but there are now considerable electrical hazards inside.
Hunley says he’s grateful for the good relationship with Graceway Church next door.
“If that hadn’t been the case and we were trying to put people on busses, some of these people are less ambulatory than others, so that would have complicated it significantly. Certainly the cold is less pleasant to work in than 50 degree weather and the cold is what caused the problem in the first place,” he said.
There are still a handful of tenants who did not want to leave their units. Those who did and went to the church are occupying several rooms there to maintain social distancing.
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