NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Power has been restored at Nashville Christian Towers after a days-long outage left elderly residents trapped without heat or elevators during freezing temperatures, forcing emergency evacuations by Nashville firefighters.
The 12-story senior living facility lost power Sunday morning, stranding residents with mobility and health issues in their rooms without elevator access. Many residents ran out of food as the crisis continued with no immediate relief in sight.
"We need help here, help us," residents pleaded as they sounded the alarm about their dangerous conditions.
Sheri Sanford, who has lived at the building for 6.5 years, said she had never experienced anything like this before. The cold became unbearable for many residents.
"I said I'm not staying here another moment. My whole body hurts from being so cold," Sanford said.
The power outage left the building's three elevators out of service, creating a dire situation for residents with limited mobility who were trapped on upper floors.
"Three elevators, not available to get up and down, no heat. I ate all my peanut butter and jelly," one resident said. "It just feels like a trapped feeling here and there's a lot of very sick people."
Sanford made the difficult decision to evacuate, packing a bag and navigating nine flights of cold, dark stairs to reach safety. She hoped Nashville firefighters would help her get to a shelter.
Nashville Fire Department crews guided residents down the stairs as the situation became increasingly desperate.
"I would have been left here to die, so see you are saving lives," one resident told firefighters.
However, not all residents could make the same choice to leave. Pets, medications and fear kept some trapped in the building.
"I can't leave here. I have no food in my house. I have no way to prepare it. Someone's got to come here and help us," another resident said.
Many residents felt abandoned during the crisis.
"Do I feel we're forgotten? Yes, yes, I do," Sanford said.
The Nashville Fire Department evacuated several residents to various shelters. Mayor Freddie O'Connell addressed the situation, saying residents must make safety choices for themselves.
"Everyone has to make the choice for themselves to be safe and find either shelter or comfort as they're doing safely because we may not get her power back on within the hour, within the day, but that's why we've opened so many emergency warming locations," O'Connell said.
Following the initial report, Envolve Communities, the Memphis-based management company, provided a statement about the power restoration.
"Power has been restored at Nashville Christian Towers following the regional outage. This was an extremely unfortunate situation, and our hearts go out to all who have been impacted by the severe winter weather. We appreciate everyone's patience as crews worked to restore service. Envolve remains focused on supporting our residents as the greater community works to recover," said Jeff Ezekiel, President of Envolve Communities.
Sanford evacuated to one of the warming shelters but feared she wouldn't have enough supplies like clothing and medication to last. As a low-income senior living community, many residents have limited mobility, making power outages particularly dangerous for some of the community's most vulnerable people.
Have you or a loved one experienced similar issues at senior living facilities during emergencies? I want to hear your story. Email me your thoughts and concerns at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
