Aftermath of destructive Houston storm: Cypress Gardens affordable senior housing complex still without power

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Five days after storms paralyzed Houston, several hundred elderly people in the Northeast remained without power Monday.

Their affordable housing complex, Cypress Gardens, off U.S. 90, lost power during the storm.

“I feel stuck. I feel like I’m alone on an island, you know? I feel disconnected from society. I can’t talk to anyone. It’s kind of like a feeling of helplessness. Kind of like being alone, that’s what I and I’m hungry for,” said Randolph Reyna Jr., who lives in the complex with his father, Randolph Sr..

The two men were effectively trapped in their stuffy third-floor apartment. The elevators were out of order and the eldest Reyna had difficulty going up the stairs.

“I’m 73 years old, I’m disabled, I have Parkinson’s disease and I have neurosyphilis which must really affect my balance,” Randolph Reyna Sr. said.

Randolph Reyna Jr. told ABC13 he was grateful to be able to carry his father up the stairs if necessary, but without a car and both dead phones, he said he didn’t know what they would do next.

“I don’t see anywhere we could go,” young Reyna said.

Dr. David Persse, chief medical officer for the city of Houston, told ABC13 his team was directed to the complex by the mayor’s office Monday after a city council member received a complaint from a member of the family of a tenant.

Brittney Smith told ABC13 she contacted several public officials, starting Saturday, regarding conditions in her mother’s apartment building.

“No one was getting help,” she said.

Persse said maintenance knocked on every door Monday to inform residents of a cooling center they had just installed in the complex’s main office using a generator. Residents agreed that anyone on an upper floor with a mobility issue would need to be transported to the center by first responders if maintenance could make contact.

Persse added several concerns, including those regarding residents dependent on electric oxygen concentrators.

Several residents said no one from the city or the apartment tried to contact them before Monday.

Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said his department had to carry at least one man down the stairs Monday. His family tried to get him to safety, but he lived on the third floor and used a wheelchair.

Peña said the complex is one of at least a half-dozen large senior complexes with unsafe conditions, including those without lighting or air conditioning, that his department has visited since the storm.

Houston Mayor John Whitmire accused the management and staff of Independence Hallapartment of “abandoning” residents.

ABC13 spoke briefly on site with Cypress Gardens management, who contacted Eyewitness News at the company’s phone number which did not respond.

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SEE MORE: Mayor accuses management of ‘abandoning’ affordable housing residents without power after storm