Dallas Mercantile Building residents unable to return after water leak, electrical short

DALLAS - Residents of the Historic Dallas Mercantile Building were forced to evacuate due to a Thursday water malfunction that caused major damage. 

Those residents are unsure when they’ll be allowed to return.

Dallas Mercantile building evacuation

FOX 4 spoke to some of the displaced residents as they were grabbing their belongings, and they shared their frustrations with the response from the property owner and management company. 

Unfortunately, people had to grab enough items to get through the weekend. As the property management company told us, they don't have a timeframe for when the apartment building will reopen.

At first, Joseph Melton didn't think much of the alarms he heard in the middle of the afternoon. That changed when he received an email telling him to evacuate his 22nd floor apartment because of a water leak.

Melton said he saw a stream of water in the stairwell by the time he got to the 20th floor. 

Dallas Fire Rescue says a ruptured water line on that floor flooded apartments and made its way to the electrical room on the 11th floor, which caused a massive electrical short.  

Melton took photos of the flooded halls as he made his way to the lobby.

He said the ceiling appeared to be coming down in some areas, and debris scattered the halls, with at least three or four inches of water covering the floor. 

The water trickled down to the 7th floor into Nehemiah King's apartment. King told FOX 4 the water came into his home from the ceiling. He evacuated with his partner and children.

 ‘The evacuation was chaotic’

What they're saying:

"The evacuation was chaotic, people were screaming, were all coming out of their apartments, looking everywhere, water coming out of their apartments as well, so I’m like, oh, this is crazy," King said.

Once first responders got there, Melton says firefighters went door to door to make sure everyone got out.

The Mercantile Place property management company, Brookfield Properties, is based in Ohio.

Thursday evening, the company told residents they wouldn't be able to go back to their apartments, and they had to find somewhere else to stay the night. 

Melton chose to sleep in his car, and King got his family a hotel nearby.

"They did offer a shelter in place at the Red Cross center, they had three DART buses lined up along the street," Melton said.

Brookfield Properties sent a statement to FOX 4 that says in part:

"We have assisted residents with the evacuation, and we are working around the clock to address the conditions at the building." 

It goes on to say:

"We do not yet have a timetable for when Mercantile Place will reopen." 

Melton and others believe Brookfield Properties should have done more.

"I feel like, me personally, they didn’t come up with a better solution. Especially as of this is day two and we still have no water or electricity. I feel like the management company could have at least put us up in a hotel."

But at the very least, on Friday afternoon, people were able to go back in and grab belongings since they couldn't stay there over the weekend.

Melton grabbed two backpacks worth of items, and King was hoping to do the same. 

"It’s already hard times that we live in, I just hope everybody gets their items back and everyone be safe," King said. 

What's next:

The City of Dallas told FOX 4 it was notified by Brookfield that it had made accommodations for residents who needed a place to stay. 

But a resident shared an email with us that she received from Brookfield, telling them to reach out to their renter’s insurance for accommodations.

The city says it has not received any additional requests today for help from tenants or Brookfield.

Dallas