WILLOWICK, Ohio — Many people living in high rise apartments have been struggling since Tuesday's storms, especially with some of those buildings having elevators that aren't working amid widespread power outages.
A 3News viewer called us telling us that the 12-story east tower at Shoregate Apartments in Willowick has no power and no working elevator.
When we went inside Friday, it was pretty dark. Tenants told us their apartments have had no electricity since Tuesday afternoon's storm.
While none of the units have power, a maintenance man showed us that he was able to get a generator working to provide some lighting for the hallways.
We tried using the elevator ourselves and it was definitely out of commission, making for an extremely difficult situation for residents who are older in years or have disabilities.
"I can't take the walker up and down the steps by myself," said 73-year-old Linda Decker, who lives on the fourth floor. "I got down yesterday just by the grace of God, and I crawled back up. I'm due for knee surgery in four weeks from yesterday."
Rose Allen, who lives on the 11th floor, said she had been stuck in her unit since the storm passed but needed to attend a critical doctor's appointment on Friday.
"Well, I had already talked to people at the fire department, and they were able eventually to send someone to get me down for today," Allen said. "They got me down and they were kind, some of the nicest people in this fire department in Willowick. And they were able to stay with me until the medical transport driver arrived."
Shoregate Towers management told 3 News they expect the elevator to be operational again once FirstEnergy restores power to the building.
On Friday, a FirstEnergy spokesperson sent us this statement when asked about the situation at Shoregate Towers:
"We follow a formal restoration process, in which we make repairs to lines/equipment that will bring the most customers back first. As of 4:30 p.m., we are working to restore about 1,100 Willowick customers that remain impacted by Tuesday's storms. FirstEnergy crews were in our communities when the storm arrived, and more than 6,000 personnel from the company, contractors and mutual assistance organizations are engaged in restoration." - Hannah Catlett, Spokesperson, FirstEnergy