LOUISVILLE, Ky. — An outage at Dosker Manor’s Building C Thursday afternoon left about 170 people without power.
The Louisville Metro Housing Authority said it was a water leak that damaged the electrical system and caused the power to go out around 4 p.m.
Tenants told WHAS11 News it was a long night as they waited for the power to be restored; most were left without air conditioning and their refrigerated food quickly expired. The elevators also stopped working.
"I talked to the guy next door I enjoyed his company; he opened the balcony door, and a lot of air was coming through, it felt really good," tenant Judy Cecil said.
LMHA management, community partners and the Louisville Fire Department were on the scene distributing supplies and food to those who needed it.
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Director Elizabeth Strojan said the power came back on around 12:30 p.m. on Friday.
Eventually, Metro Government plans to demolish Dosker Manor. Strojan said she’s submitting the demolition application to the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Friday.
She said this outage underscores the reason why they need to get people out of Dosker Manor.
“We're dealing with systems that are very old, so we're dealing with pipes that are old, we're dealing with electrical systems that are very old,” Strojan said. “We're dealing with elevators that are very old. We continuously have to make these emergency repairs. This property is extremely difficult to manage. It feels like it's always something at Dosker Manor. That's not good for residents, it's not good for the staff, it's not good for the city of Louisville.”
"They can tear it down today if they want to because I would look to sit across the street and watch it go down, I will tell them goodbye," Cecil said.
In the meantime, there will be a voluntary relocation process starting with tenants living in Building A first to get as many residents as possible out as soon as possible.
"I'm on a list now for an apartment over in Indiana and if it comes up, I'm going to move out," said Cecil.
For now, Cecil is waiting patiently until Building C residents can be relocated.
LMHA's goal is to get more than 500 Dosker Manor tenants relocated over the next 12 to 18 months.