Dozens of east Oakland children and their families say they are frustrated and homesick after the Coliseum Connections apartment complex parking garage was flooded over New Year’s Eve. They have been staying at a hotel ever since.
As of Thursday night, there are close to 30 kids from the Oakland Unified School District, and charter schools staying at a hotel by the Oakland Airport. In total, over 80 residents from one apartment complex have been displaced.
It's been a long, difficult five days away from home for the Ramos family.
“You don’t know if you want to cry or be angry, it's frustrating,” said Fabiola Avendano Ramos, Coliseum Connections resident.
For the families have been staying at a hotel by the Oakland Airport, they are unsure when they'll be able to come back home.
“It doesn't feel normal to not be at home because our garage is flooded,” said Zion Mayfield, a fourth grader at Oakland Academy.
Residents said that as many as nine cars were submerged under flood water. Davina Brown said she lost two cars in the storm.
“PG&E came out and drained one of the pumps then cut power to the building after seeing how much water it was. And after that, then what do we do? Now there's no power,” she said.
Tommie Wheeler said her family of four has been sharing a single bed each night.
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“We've just been eating fast food twice a day,” she said.
Many here feel that the damage could have been avoided and added that their complex, just four years old was badly neglected.
“All the other apartments around us are perfectly fine. Ours is literally the only one pitch black and with all these problems going on,” Wheeler said.
Residents who have been displaced told NBC Bay Area that they're most in need of laundry service, Clipper cards, so people can get to work, new board games for children and gift certificates to local restaurants.
For those who want to help, they can donate money to pay for meals for the displaced residents by visiting mealtrain.com.
