‘It was pouring out of the ceiling’: Dozens of Monroe families forced from homes after pipe bursts

MONROE, Wash. — Dozens of families in Monroe are trying to figure out where they’ll sleep Tuesday night after a ruptured pipe flooded their apartment complex.

The watery mess began just after 8 p.m. on Monday, at the River’s Edge Apartment Complex. About 27 adults and 16 kids were displaced. A sprinkler pipe in two buildings at the complex damaged 30 units.

“It was just pouring out of the ceiling and it started coming out of the bottom of the walls,” said Justin, who lives on the ground floor in one of the flooded buildings. 

He said in what seemed like seconds, water covered the floor.

“Water started coming out of all the light fixtures, the smoke alarms, the fire sprinklers, the vents in the bathroom were like cascading like a waterfall,” he said. “It was just pouring out of the ceiling and it started coming out of the bottom of the walls. Like we had inches of water on the floor so I just opened up the front door and was letting the water run out of the apartment.”

He didn’t realize they weren’t the only unit with water gushing from their walls until he opened the front door.

“When I came out of the front door and it looked like a waterfall coming off of the landings up above,” he said. “Everyone was kind of panicked they didn’t know what to do, fire department pulled up moments later.”

The landlord said the fire department called the Red Cross. The Red Cross told residents to stay at the nearby cold weather shelter, The Monroe United Methodist Church. The shelter said no residents stayed.

The Red Cross said since the pipes bursting was not a natural disaster, they’re not supposed to be who coordinates where residents will stay. The landlords are supposed to do that. 

The River’s Edge Apartments landlord is Indigo Real Estate. They told KIRO 7 that residents should have gotten a call and an email to go to the main office Monday night to arrange lodging. Only eight families took them up on the offer. 

The residents KIRO 7 talked with said they didn’t get a call or email. One even went to the main office to see if there was anyone to help, but they didn’t get any information on where to go. Now they’re paying to stay in a hotel out of their own pockets.

“[We’re] mostly just in shock and wondering like what we’re supposed to do and where we’re supposed to go from here,” said Nicole.

Justin added that the mold will soon start to sprout.

“As much water as was coming in through the ceiling all of the wood insulation and everything is soaked,” he said. “That’s going to start molding here in days if not hours. it was a lot of water.”

Indigo Real Estate said right now, they don’t have a full list of the damage and there’s no timeline for when the units will be livable again.

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