nothin 8 Families Back Home After Monday Flooding | New Haven Independent

8 Families Back Home After Monday Flooding

Thomas Breen photo

Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Steve Winter follows up with St. Martin’s Townhouses residents two days after the rainstorm.

Two days after a torrential rainstorm flooded eight families out of their Goffe Street apartments, all eight are back home, and five of the eight apartments have been completely cleaned, cleared of water, and dried, according to interviews with residents and the management company.

The other three affected units still have wet kitchens, which the management company said it is currently working to finish drying out.

That was the case Wednesday at the St. Martin’s Townhouses at 200 Goffe St., a 63-unit subsidized housing complex on an industrial stretch connecting Dixwell and Downtown.

First-term Newhallville/Prospect Hill Alder Steve Winter (whose gerrymandered district also includes this slice of Dixwell) paid a visit to the complex to follow up with residents and the property manager, SHP Management, about how tenants were faring two days after a heavy rainstorm and a clogged main water line resulted in up to two inches of rain water backing up into eight ground-floor apartments, temporarily displacing nine adults and ten children.

Laura Glover, the complex’s senior property manager, said all of the families were back in their apartments, and that five of the apartments have been completely cleaned.

All of the water has been removed,” she said. Remediation has been completed, and they’ve been verified free of any potential moisture problems. We’ve had a professional company in to clear them.”

She said the other three units still have dampness in their kitchens, but that the management and remediation companies are working on drying those out with heaters, fans, and vacuums.

Glover said that SHP Management put six families up at La Quinta Inn on Long Wharf on Monday night, and put two of those families up at La Quinta on Tuesday night as well. She said one other affected family is back in their apartment after spending Monday night with relatives, and that the other affected family never left their unit, as SHP was able to clear, clean and dry it on Monday afternoon.

We’re just getting our hands into the property,” Glover said, noting that SHP Management took over management of the St. Martin’s exactly one month ago. The history of any water problems in the building I’m just finding out about. I do know that the owners are looking at all of the units, and that some of the problems we’re going to find out about as we go.” The building is owned by St. Martin’s Preservation GP LLC, which is managed by New York City venture capitalist Stuart Feldman.

Winter also went door to door at St. Martin’s, asking tenants in Buildings E and F about how they made out during the storm.

Taylor Ogman said that her apartment was so flooded on Monday that she and her husband and child had to stack books on the kitchen table to avoid the pool of water steadily rising on the floor. She said the management company took care of her and her family, putting them up at La Quinta for two nights.

Back in her apartment with the front and back doors open, she said that the management company did right by her family.

They gave us somewhere to go,” she said. They cleaned up. They didn’t leave any mess, and did a pretty good job. They could have left us stranded, but they didn’t.”

She said SHP paid for the hotel room and the transportation to and from La Quinta, and that she was happy to be back in her home. (She and other tenants declined to be photographed.)

Lakisha Peterson said that her apartment was also flooded on Monday morning, and that SHP also put her up for two nights at La Quinta. She said her hallway was filled with a couple inches of water, but that the apartment looks ok to her post clean-up.

From what I can see, things are looking pretty good,” she said.

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