Residents of senior housing complex asking for help after storm

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) -People living at Oak Hill Manor in downtown Cedar Rapids are asking for help after Monday’s storm. They say until Thursday the entrance to their section of the complex was mostly blocked off by fallen trees....and that there’s usually at least one 911 call to the complex every week. And when that debris was finally cleared, it was moved in front of apartment windows, which residents say is blocking air from getting into the already hot building.

Oak Hill Manor residents plea for help
PLEA FOR HELP: About 90 minutes ago, a woman called NewsLine9 asking for help. She's a resident at Oak Hill Manor in Southeast Cedar Rapids. Our crew went to the scene and found a group of elderly, disabled residents without power, desperate for help and frustrated by the lack of information.
Posted by KCRG-TV9 on Thursday, August 13, 2020

The complex is without power, and in order to stay cool some people are gathering outside, or even sleeping in their cars. Many of the residents are elderly or disabled, and some are unable to even leave their upper-floor apartments because elevators aren’t working. Oak Hills is a senior low income housing apartment. The residents say their apartment complex manager told them they would be able to get 50 dollars reimbursed for groceries, but they say that isn’t close to enough.

One man told KCRG he had to throw away thousands of dollars’ worth of insulin because he had no power to keep it cold. Barbra Treadway lives at Oak Hill Manor with her husband. She says they’ve had to rely on each other for food and help. “Well there’s people that have no legs, there’s people in wheelchairs. Oxygen, insulin that needs to be kept cold. We’re running out of food stamps, we can’t get ice water, can’t get food, and it seems like nobody wants to help,” says Treadway.