HIGHLAND PARK (WWJ) - Neighbors and families in one community are voicing concerns for senior citizens left in the dark after Monday's storms knocked power out to over 260,000 people in Metro Detroit.
WWJ's Mike Campbell spoke to families of elderly tenants at the Buena Vista Senior Community Apartment Tower in Highland Park on Buena Vista and Woodward, who say conditions are deteriorating after power was lost during Monday's storms.
Residents do not have working air conditioning, stoves or an elevator while others haven’t been able to power oxygen equipment for almost two days.
Tony Mullins told Campbell his 70-year-old mother lives several floors up. Without a working elevator, she has to use the stairs to get food dropped off at the complex.
"It's a struggle," Mullins said. "She's on the 7th floor and she's on oxygen. She can't really use her big tank in the house, so she's got these little portable tanks that she has to rely on."
Campbell said generators can be heard whirling in the parking lot, but very few emergency lights are coming from the apartment tower that houses not only senior citizens, but disabled persons as well.
While DTE works on brining power back online, the community has come together as a response, Mullins told Campbell.
Management delivered pizza on Tuesday and residents, along with City Hall and even the mayor, were grilling and sharing food with their neighbors.
Mullins said when they contacted DTE about an estimated restoration time, he was told lights may be back on by Sept. 1.
"This is the second or third day since the storm," Mullins said.
Campbell said other inquires with DTE estimated power could be back on in the area as late as Friday.
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