Repairs underway, some tenants already back in weather-damaged Sydney apartment building

SYDNEY, N.S. — SYDNEY, N.S. — It appears the majority of tenants living in a Sydney apartment building where part of the roof detached in Tuesday's stom are back in their units. 
As of Wednesday morning ,Jason Noseworthy, emergency manager co-ordinator for the Canadian Red Cross, said they were still assisting 18 displaced tenants of the building at 297 Rotary Drive, waiting until it was deemed safe for them to returnto their units in the building.
“The last notice we received, the CBRM was still trying to make connection with the landlord,” he said. “So they haven’t been able to do the things they need to do to allow the tenants to go back in so far. They are just kind of waiting on that.”
In a story in the Cape Breton Post on Wednesday, tenants said at about 6 a.m. Tuesday they heard a loud noise and discovered part of the roof had caved in. There are 63 units and 126 tenants in the building.
Cape Breton Regional Police, Cape Breton Regional Municipality Fire Services and EHS were on the scene assisting. Tenants were evacuated to Centre 200 throughout the afternoon. 
Late Tuesday afternoon, CBRM officials said tenants on one side of the building were allowed re-entry, after it was discovered they had functioning electricity and it was safe for them to do so. 
Noseworthy said, in the meantime, a reception area had been opened at Centre 200. Although plans were to open an emergency shelter, later on a decision was made not to do so as the minimum requirements weren’t achieved. Minimum requirements would vary due to the severity of the situation and number of people involved. 
Eighteen people still required assistance, with some being provided hotel accommodations and others temporarily living with family or friends. 
Noseworthy said they spoke to the student affairs office at CBU, as there are sometimes available accommodations at the university.
Being exam time for the students, everyone was trying to come up with ways to assist them. But on Tuesday it was learned there was only availability only for female occupancy, which wasn’t needed in this situation. 
Now Noseworthy said they they’ll continue to assess each situation case-by-case on a daily basis.
Some students were worried on Tuesday about exams on Wednesday, including Amanender Singh, 21, and his roommate Abhilash Kondal, found on a CBRM transit bus being transported to Centre 200. 
“A little bit worried because we have exams (Wednesday) and two more after that and we need to study,” said Amanender.
Meanwhile,CBRM building officials were on the site Wednesday, assessing the apartments that were affected. 
Jillian Moore, spokesperson for the CBRM, said the building officials will make determinations of what units are habitable. The remediation work — including permits and construction — will then be the responsibility of the property owner. Moore said CBRM fire services are also working with the building officials to ensure everything is functioning properly when work is complete.
The building is owned by a company identified as 3150018Nova Scotia Limited, which has buildings in the area and across the province. 
The building manager — who wished not to be identified — said no ceilings came down in the units. 
The manager said during the high winds that hit the area Tuesday — which included 105 km/h at 8 a.m. — a 15 ft. piece of the roof flipped back at about 10 a.m. and water leaked down one wall. 
“We had workers ready to fix it but due to the high winds they had to wait until the weather died down, so they could get up on the roof.”
The workers were up securing the damaged roof by noon on Tuesday. 
The building manager said the water that entered the building came down through the vents and into the closets in a few apartments. She said four or five apartments were affected.
“We have Service Master on it and they will be going stop-by-step through the whole job.”
The building manager said the tenants evacuated Tuesday were happy to be back in the building and have been very understanding. Their focus now is getting the remaining tenants back in their units.
“Our priority is keeping them safe and cozy. Apartment rental is our business and that’s our job to do that.”
There is security on each floor of the building by order of the CBRM as well as a fire watch to ensure the re-entering public is protected from fire until repairs have been completed. 

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