Displaced residents of a building that partially collapsed in the Bronx on Monday afternoon recalled a slew of unsavory and unsafe conditions in their apartments, including rats, leaks, and visible cracks in the walls.
“For years we reported, we made so many reports … because the walls inside, I wish I could show you pictures, were just crumbling,” said Melina Ricart, 29, who grew up in the first-floor unit her family evacuated as the seven-story building in Morris Heights began to collapse around them.
Officials say there were no fatalities and only minor injuries so far. The Bronx district attorney is investigating the collapse, along with the city’s fire and building departments.
Scores of people were displaced on a frigid December night, though, and are unsure where to go next. Many say they’d long feared some sort of catastrophe.
Ricart and others described a variety of problems that had made them feel unsafe for years, as they stood just down the street Tuesday morning watching emergency workers and construction crews assess the wreckage of their homes.
She remembered constant leaks, even when residents did simple daily chores.
“It would come through the walls … everything would get flooded and it was always like, ‘Oh my God, I was just taking a shower. Oh my God, I was just running my washing machine,’” recalled Ricart, who no longer lives in the building.
Miriam Rodriguez, 63, is another first-floor resident who lives on the other side of the building from the collapse.
“Look, this building, you pushed the wall and it would make a hole,” she said in Spanish. “It was a total disaster. So then you would tell the super, ‘I have some damage,’ and he would make a joke out of it.”
After complaints were filed, it would take two or three weeks before anyone came to address the issues, Rodriguez said.
“And rats…,” she trailed off, shaking her head. “In one week, my son killed 15. This big,” she said, spreading her hands. “In my…
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