NORFOLK, Va. (WVEC) --- 124 apartment units at the Royal Mace Apartments in Norfolk are still without gas over the holiday weekend.
That means people living at the apartments have no heat, no warm water and no way to cook food.
The building's been this way since Monday.
"Thanksgiving has come and gone. And we're still in the same situation we were before thanksgiving," said resident Nikia Moree. She says people there are, “funky, hungry, and cold.”
Grace and Richard Belote only have one word for living in this condition, frustration. “We call it the royal mess," said Grace.
Belvedere Property Management owns Royal Mace Apartments. Their Regional Property Manager, Sandra Winfrey, said they attempted to fix the gas leak right away.
Cox power crews have been at the apartments since Tuesday, but property managers say safety takes time. Winfrey said, "They're our family too, and we can't afford to have anything bad happen to them."
Now, maintenance crews are checking every room and changing every stove valve. Grace said when their stove was checked, "the guy this morning, he said this should have been fixed years ago."
Now residents said they’re tired of hearing management tell them ‘they’re doing the best they can.’
Richard said, "We just want something to be done that will help us some."
"Come and give everybody some heaters or something. It's pretty cold at night," said tenant Lannell Thomas.
Winfrey said, “Some people have lost their patients with us, as you can well understand."
Apartment management said the community has helped by donating meals and even discounted
Grace said nobody told her about the hotel discount and Lanell said it wouldn't have even mattered.
“I don't have extra money to set aside for two three four nights in a hotel room. I can't afford it. That's my rent basically," said Lanell.
We spoke with the regional property manager. She said the next step is checking one more set of rooms for gas leaks, then pressurizing the whole building. The city will come out to do a final
As of now, management said they don't know how long it’ll take to get the gas back on.
Management said people might be compensated, but it’s too soon to know. However, management said there's renters insurance that could cover this incident.
Lanell said she called her insurance to check, but because the gas leak was not in her apartment, it won't be covered.