Return uncertain for flooded out residents

DENVER – Investigators say they believe freezing temperatures caused a water line to burst, flooding part of an independent living apartment building and sending its elderly residents into shelters and hotels.

The break happened just after 8 p.m. Monday at the Westgate Tower Apartments on Lincoln Street.

Carl Ebeling is one of the 50 people who were forced out of the building. He is now staying at a Holiday Inn and is not sure when he will get to come back.

“They said pack a bag for a couple of days,” said Ebeling. “Everything is just kind of scallywad.”

Ebeling says he and his friend, Johnnie Ortiz, evacuated Monday night after 4 feet of water filled the apartment basement. The water knocked out the elevators, the heat and the water.

A dive team was called in to help investigate the break.

“It was quite a surprise. Especially when they tell you they are evacuating the building. Good grief,” said Ebeling.

Investigators say a 4-inch water pipe broke, and while none of the apartments got wet, yellow hydraulic fluid from the elevators covered nearly everything in the basement.

However, authorities say it could have been worse.

“Had water gotten impinged upon that electrical vault, it certainly could have had a catastrophic consequence,” said Lt. Phil Champagne with the Denver Fire Department.

Champagne says someone could have been electrocuted or a fire could have started.

All the residents living at Westgate are elderly, some are disabled, so it was a challenge to get them out at a moment’s notice.

“We started waking up all the residents, getting their meds ready, their clothes,” said Susan Anderson, the apartment manager.

No one was injured and the Volunteers of America found everyone a place to stay.

Volunteers of America owns the building and plans to meet again on Wednesday to decide if residents can go home.