LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Sharon Gough heard it before 10 a.m. Tuesday.
"Boom!" she recalled, saying "all of the sudden I noticed the TV went off, lights went out and all that."
That moment left nearly 160 people living in St. Catherine Court, a Louisville Metro Housing Authority (LMHA) property, without power for over 24 hours.
A water leak from the clothes washer on the ninth floor drizzled in to the electrical closet on the fifth. It fried a triple fuse, one that's no longer in production. To fix the issue, a custom replacement must be made, or possibly a repair.
Maintenance officials from LMHA are uncertain how to fix the issue as they work with an outside electrical contractor.
Temporarily, they've been able to provide power to the elevator, first floor common area and some hallways in the building.
Gough could forgive it if the conditions at the complex were better, but she says many complaints go unaddressed.
"See where that black mark is, on the screen on the bottom? In the corner?" she said, pointing up to her 16th-floor apartment, where the screen showed rips. "They supposed to be fixing that. And it's been five years, sweetheart."
"It gets real scary here. Especially when there's no power, no lights, you're just in the dark," resident Marvin Cooper said on the way back from the Dollar General up the road. He bought Cheetos to snack on after losing some staple foods like milk and eggs that required refrigeration.
Kimberly Thompson joined in the outrage, leaving work to stop by to check on her mom.
"It is deplorable on the inside of this building. And it unacceptable that we expect our seniors and disabled people to live in a space like this because they have no other space," she said.
The building, almost 60 years old, has a maintenance backlog like other aging LMHA properties.
"And this is just another drop in the bucket to show LMHA has a lot of work to go, and we're committed to doing the work," spokesperson Jailen Leavell said, adding "Our team is working around the clock, trying to restore power. And we're providing resources to our residents. Last night we fed them a nice meal. This morning, we fed breakfast. And we'll continue to do that as long as power remains out here."
"It's really a bad situation," resident Anthony C. Dickerson Sr. shared. "I mean, they do what they can for us. I appreciate it. God is good. But. Something needs to be done."
Due to the complicated repairs, the Metro Housing Authority has no timeline on when power will be restored.
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