East Harlem NYCHA residents left with no heat or water on Christmas

Residents of a Manhattan NYCHA apartment building were left without heat and drinkable water after a pipe burst, ruining their Christmas weekend.

When a main pipe leading from the water tank on the roof of the building on Park Ave. near E. 135th St. burst around 6:50 p.m. Saturday water rushed through ceilings, flooding stairwells that quickly turned icy in the frigid temperatures.

“It was running like a river,” said a woman who only wanted to be named as Cheryl. “We were going out to dinner Christmas Eve with our family but we couldn’t get upstairs.”

The elevators in the 14-story building were shut down along with the water as crews worked to address the flooding.

Temperatures in New York City plummeted more than 50 degrees between Friday and Saturday, bottoming out at 7 degrees under cloudy skies — the first time the city experienced single-digit temperatures since Jan. 31, 2019.

One of the two elevators in the Lincoln Houses building was functioning around 2 p.m. Sunday as some were forced to use their ovens to heat apartments after the heat went down too.

A Daily News reporter was stuck in an elevator for over 20 minutes as he worked to interview residents of the building.

“The water ran right down the stairs,” Cheryl said. “We have the oven on. The apartment is freezing. No heat. We can’t live like this.”

When residents tried to turn on their water, brown sludge came from their faucets instead.

“The little water there is comes out brown,” said Michelle Haynes. “The heat is off. We have to use a space heater but it’s very dangerous. We’re being very careful.

Haynes told the Daily News her ceiling is nearly “falling down” since the pipe burst.

“There was water coming down from the ceiling, it came down from the stairs,” she recalled. “There’s always something wrong with the roof. It has a hole in it.”

“The building has to be knocked down and built back up,” she added.

As some waited for meals and presents to be arrive delivery workers bailed when they discovered there was no easy way to access upper floors.

“It messed up our Christmas,” Haynes said. “Nobody could get up or down. The deliveries were canceled. We have a little tiny bit of heat.”

Elizabeth Hernandez, a 14th floor resident, recently underwent back surgery and referred to herself as “crippled.” She’s been stuck upstairs since the pipe burst, unable to climb up and down the stairs.

“It ruined our Christmas,” Hernandez said. “My sister came from Staten Island and couldn’t get up the stairs.”

She and her three children — ages 11, 15 and 19 — have been using bottled water as they wait for the brown liquid coming from the faucet to be fixed.

“I have to leave this building,” she said. “There’s always something wrong with this building. It’s mad cold. My kids missed out [on Christmas].”

Another mother in the building kept her kids home instead of celebrating the holiday with friends due to the elevators but then suffered through a bitter cold Christmas day with lows of 14 degrees.

“There was no Christmas, even Christmas dinner,” said Lillie Fillerwood. “How can you celebrate if you can’t get out of the building?”

Others who were able to climb the stairs chose to stay in their apartment in fear of the dangers of the stairwells.

“We are stuck here, it’s not safe,” said a 13th-floor resident. “The stairways aren’t safe.”

In February 2021 a developmentally disabled man was stabbed over 19 times in the stairwell of a neighboring building in the Lincoln Houses. Victim Eric McBride, 30, lived with his mother in another building in the complex and was visiting friends when he was slain.

A spokesperson from NYCHA did not immediately return a request for comment on the burst pipes Sunday.

“No one helps,” another resident said. “They just come and look and leave.”

With Emma Seiwell