Pregnant woman's apartment floods when it rains, says management won't help

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Every time it rains, Lorena Grimaldo braces for the inevitable.

“That hole there is what floods the entire place. The kitchen, the dining room, and it goes all the way to the living room,” said Grimaldo.

Grimaldo said it’s happened for last four months on her first-floor unit at Arium Deerwood.

“When it rains, it would just spew water to the point where it would just flood this entire area,” said Grimaldo.

Cell phone video showed the puddles of water covering her floor and the soaked towels she uses to try to clean it up.

“The curtains will get wet all the way to about right here, past this little sewing crease,” said Grimaldo.

To make matters worse, her AC unit recently stopped working.

“It’s really stressful and I’m five months pregnant so I feel like it’s bad for the baby too,” said Grimaldo.

Grimaldo said, so far, management won’t help which is why she reached out to Action News Jax.

“Whenever I do go up there they say, ‘Oh maintenance is working on it, maintenance is working on it’,” said Grimaldo.

Crews were spotted working on her AC unit Friday, but the flooding issue still hasn’t been fixed.  Now that it’s hurricane season, she’s worried about what will happen if the hole isn’t fixed soon.

Action News Jax tried speaking with the property manager but she would not speak on camera.

Off camera, the manager said they have offered to move Grimaldo to another unit free of charge. They believe the problem might be in the foundation but they’re not sure.

Grimaldo said moving is not ideal because she’d have to pay to move her belongings.  She just wants the problem fixed.

“Show a little compassion to the residents because we spend a lot of money on rent here and just do the right thing,” said Grimaldo.

Action News Jax asked the property manager if they would help pay for her move to another unit but she said that’s something they’d have to look into it.

Cox Media Group