Apartment management told KHOU 11 that four of the five elevators on the property stopped working due to extensive damage caused by an electrical storm.
TOMBALL, Texas — Residents at another Houston-area senior living complex reached out to KHOU 11 after they said they have been left without several working elevators for weeks.
This is the latest in a series of similar issues KHOU 11 News has reported on over the past several months. This time, the complaints are coming from HomeTowne at Tomball, a senior community where four of the five elevators at the complex have been out of service since early June.
“We have people on walkers, scooters,” one resident told KHOU 11.
She asked to remain anonymous due to concerns about retaliation from management.
Many residents, including those with serious mobility issues, said they are now forced to climb stairs daily. It is a task that they described as not only exhausting but also dangerous.
Apartment management told KHOU 11 that an electrical surge caused by a storm on June 9 led to major damage to their elevator system. A manager for the complex sent KHOU 1 the following statement: “We have 5 elevators in our community and 4 of the 5 elevators experienced extensive damage from an electrical storm/act of nature that occurred on 6/9 that required tedious detailed diagnostics of entire system, parts and equipment that couldn’t be located over-night, this takes time to acquire the necessary parts, inspections and coordinate a knowledgeable team etc… We have been fortunate to have one of the elevators in service and immediately posted a sign at each elevator location direction to the elevator and notified residents of same. We are in constant contact with the elevator company offering as much help as we can to get our elevators up and running.”
But nearly a month later, those elevators remain out of service.
“My hope is that they would get them fixed,” said one third-floor resident, who did not want her face shown on camera.
She is 77 years old, and she said she suffered a fall last week while attempting to get to a doctor’s appointment.
“I decided to go down the stairs, and when I went down the stairs, I got about two stairs down, and I just went down,” she said. “I was terrified.”
She ended up in the emergency room with fractured ribs and multiple contusions.
“I get very weak, because they’ve got me on a lot of muscle relaxers,” she added.
Another resident, also speaking anonymously, said the situation is wearing them down.
“Other than calling KHOU, we’re waiting. We don’t know what else we can do,” she said.
When asked what they had heard from apartment management, she responded: “They want the tenants to call and put pressure on the elevator company. … If the management that pays the bill can’t put pressure on them, I don’t know how the tenants can.”
TK Elevator, the company responsible for the maintenance, provided a statement to KHOU 11:
“TK Elevator values its ongoing service relationship with HomeTowne at Tomball and is fully aware that several elevators at the property remain inoperable due to storm-related damage sustained several weeks ago. We also recognize how important it is for the tenants in this building to have a safe and reliable elevator.
“The affected elevators are aging and utilize obsolete components, many of which are no longer manufactured or readily available. In response, TK Elevator has provided the facility with a written proposal to conduct a comprehensive troubleshooting assessment to identify the root cause of the shutdown. This proposal includes an option to expedite the troubleshooting work through overtime service. Upon completion of the troubleshooting process, TK Elevator will be able to determine the availability and cost of any necessary replacement parts as well as an estimated repair timeline.”
As of right now, there is still no estimated timeline for repairs for the four down elevators on the property.