NORFOLK, Va. — Broken cooling towers left residents of a Norfolk apartment complex, housing primarily senior residents and people who have disabilities, without air conditioning for several days when outdoor temperatures rose to the upper 80s.
For some like Mellony Smith, 76, the issues began almost two weeks ago.
"There were at least three of us in my hallway that were without it for that long," Smith said.
This Friday, a Norfolk city spokesperson confirmed that repairs were being made by management at the Braywood Manor apartment complex, to fix broken air conditioning that could be felt throughout the complex's units.
By Saturday, a city spokesperson stated crews repaired the cooling towers in the building, which restored cool air to some of the complex's units. But by Monday afternoon, many residents were still without working A/C and had been without it since Wednesday of last week.
“Across the PA system they said, ‘Flip your circuit breakers and you’ll have air.' Some of us did, but most of us didn’t," a resident told 13News Now, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation by the building's owners.
After sharing that crews had fixed the A/C issues Saturday, a city spokesperson confirmed that an inspector later discovered additional leaks:
The complaint filed with the City will remain open until we know for certain that all units are restored with A/C.
“I can tell you mine is not working and I know other people's air conditioning is not working," Cindy Goodwin said, who said the sixth consecutive day without air conditioning was compounded by her history of lingering problems with the living conditions in the building.
The management group for the building, The Franklin Johnston Group, did not respond to inquiries for this story.