FOREST HILL, Md. — He just helped his daughter move into her first apartment two months ago, and now Jesse Brooks is loading her soaked belongings back into his truck after overnight flooding at the Rock Spring Station apartment complex in Forest Hill.
“It’s so bad, the ceilings are falling in,” said Brooks. “The walls are blistered even in the hallway, down into the kitchen, on her bed, on her couch, everywhere.”
It appears sub-freezing temperatures caused a pipe to burst sending water into as many as 20 apartments, along the hallways and down the elevator shaft.
When the pipe burst about midnight, one tenant said it sounded like an explosion and flooding and a power outage were quick to follow.
“She was very frightened,” said Jamie Cheek, the young woman’s mother. “She called us. She was crying. She was panicked and the fire department was here. Ambulances were here. It was traumatic. It was scary for her, she’s young.”
For its part, the management at Rock Spring Station released a statement saying, “All affected residents were evacuated out of an abundance of caution. The displaced residents have been put up in hotels and we are working diligently to assess and repair the damage.”
But for some victims, the obvious damage to the units along with a fear of lingering mold has left them concerned for their safety.
“Nobody should be living here under the conditions I’m seeing right now. I don’t see how it would be safe whatsoever,” said Brooks. “I see they’re knocking on doors and people are still in their apartments, and I’m like, ‘How can that be?’”
