SPOKANE, Wash. — The 64 people who evacuated the Coeur d’Alene Plaza Apartment building Wednesday night still aren’t sure when they can return home.
An apartment fire followed by a fractured water line that flooded every story of the building forced their displacement. Many spent the last two nights on a cot within the All Saints Lutheran Church in Browne’s Addition.
“You don’t know what you’ve got until you don’t have it anymore,” said Rocky Phillips, who lived at the Plaza for three years. “People should appreciate what they’ve got because someday they might not have it anymore.”
The morale of the evacuees was beginning to dip, many frustrated by a lack of communication from Redwood Housing, the company that operates the Coeur d’Alene Plaza building. Residents say they’d receive generic updates, but nothing concrete to give them an idea of when they could go home.
“I can’t plan. I don’t know what kind of damage there is,” said Samuel Knouse, a ten-year resident of the Plaza. “I don’t even know the condition of my apartment. They won’t let me in there.”
In a statement, Redwood Housing said they are “working with the Spokane Fire Department and other officials to assess damage, restore and stabilize power and get residents back into their apartments.”
However, they sidestepped questions as to when they hope to have that assessment.
Phillips told 4 News Now, the company hopes to have an idea by next week.
But there is a silver lining. Residents were told Friday night to pack whatever belongings they had brought to the church and be ready to relocate to a hotel in Spokane Valley.
There, residents will have their own room, a bed, and most notably: privacy.
A resident told 4 News Now they’ll be able to return to their apartments to grab any items they need; for many, that’s a fresh set of clothing and medication.
It’ll also be the first time they can see the damage left behind from that broken water line which forced them from their homes.
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