Hundreds of families forced to shower outside due to no hot water

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — UPDATED STORY: Some Valencia Way neighbors seeing results while others continue waiting for gas 

It's going on two weeks since neighbors in the Valencia Way apartments have been able to live comfortably in their homes.

On Oct. 1 the gas was shut off due to major repairs that needed to be made, and residents lost gas and hot water because of it.

On Friday the property management put three portable showers outside the complex for people to have access to hot water. When councilman Garret Dennis heard about the portable showers he said that it was unacceptable and the owners need to do more.

RELATED: State senator calls for action at Valencia Way apartments in Jacksonville | RELATED: Families at Valencia Way Apartments forced to live without hot water and gas for a week

Mona Lisa Arnold is one of the many neighbors inside Valencia Way apartments who have been forced to live uncomfortably for more than a week without gas and hot water.

"We are in a state of emergency here. I have diabetes, hypertension, so my blood pressure been up because this (is) stressful," Arnold said.

She said she also has other health issues and taking cold showers has been making them worse.

"Other ailments, arthritis, and, you know, the water, it's cold on our bones and it's making us get sick," Arnold said.

Three portable showers Millennia Companies, which owns the property, placed outside the complex are to serve anywhere from 600 to 900 people who live there.

Dennis said he spoke with Teco Energy, which provides the gas, and representatives gave him more insight into the actual problems, such as how long it would take to fix the problems if workers were \making repairs.

"It's unacceptable. It's unsafe. It's unsanitary. From what the representative told me, the leaks aren't just in one location. They're all over the entire property. They also told me that, best case scenario, four weeks, and that's if the work begins today," Dennis said.

People from the Millennia Companies claimed they have their own construction and engineering teams working on the problem. They also said they have 3 separate vendors helping but it hasn't disclosed the names of the companies or a timeline of when the work will be fixed.

"I'm doing my due diligence trying to bring everyone together, so we can act quickly. I would like to see the residents in a hotel," Dennis said.

Dennis said he's been reaching out to other officials to see what resources they can come up with to help the neighbors.

Meanwhile, the company is working on adding additional resources so the families will be able to cook their own food.

But the families said they just want things back to normal.

Florida state Sen. Audrey Gibson sent Action News Jax this statement:

"Unfortunately I am unaware of any calls to me on matter at the Millenia property. I learned late this afternoon about the situation after receiving a call from TECO and was not pleased to find out the circumstances had been going on for 10 days. I reached out to Councilman Dennis to discuss action steps. What they are doing is illegal. HUD needs to step in immediately."

STAY UPDATED: Download the Action News Jax app for live updates on breaking stories

Cox Media Group