Two months since flooding on Canada Day from torrential rainfall knocked out power to a Lincoln Heights apartment building, many living there are still without essential amenities. It was on July 1 when 12-feet of water filled the building’s basement, causing its transformer to explode. Most residents have since moved back into 30 McEwen Ave., coming back two to three weeks after the natural disaster. But since moving back into the 25-storey building, residents on floors two through eight have been without hot running water and a lack of elevator availability has been creating accessibility issues. “The accessibility has been the hardest part,” says seventh-floor resident Alicia Magliocco, who uses a wheelchair. The building only has two of its three elevators in operation. One of those two is the service elevator and the other only goes down as far as the second floor. “There’s only one elevator right now that goes all the way to the ground floor so that we are able to exit the building, and a lot of people are moving out or a couple people are moving in, and it’s in service a lot,” says Magliocco. Before the flooding, she would access the elevator through the main lobby, which has ground floor access to the street and parking lot, but it is currently under repairs and inaccessible. Instead, Magliocco has to exit through the rear service entrance, which has an inclined ramp, making it difficult to leave and can be dangerous when she is returning home. “I don’t feel safe. I’ve fallen at that entrance more than once getting out of the building,” she said. “That ramp is really hard to get to. So usually, I take the front lobby, can’t go through the front lobby right now.” Also living on the seventh-floor and without hot water is Rebecca Rouleau, who says she has been taking cold showers and boiling water to wash dishes for nearly two months. Rouleau says contact with building owners Saickley Properties has been limited, with residents still paying full rent despite limited services. “We’re still waiting for them to get back to us and let us know if there’s going to be a credit of some sort for the lack of hot water, as well as other amenities like laundry, for example, which won’t be restored until sometime after Oct. 1,” Rouleau said. Rouleau says hot water was scheduled to return by Aug. 24, but the building’s basement failed its air quality test which restricted contractors from entering the basement to service the boilers. She says a recent memo from Saickley said hot water could be restored within two or three weeks. “It’s been rough waiting for hot water especially. That’s the one thing that a lot of people are really anxious to get back,” Rouleau said CTV News contacted Saickley Properties for comment on the situation at 30 McEwen Ave. but did not receive a response. “I’m not living,” says Magliocco. “I am coping, but I’ve had better times, that’s for sure.”
