ELLENVILLE – Residents at the Ellenville Senior Apartments on the campus of the local hospital were in for a nasty — and wet — surprise last Wednesday, when a pipe burst in the attic, dousing eight apartments with water and forcing the evacuation of the entire building for several hours.

Thankfully no one was hurt, but the result was eight uninhabitable apartments, which are now in the process of being gutted and repaired, replete with new sheetrock, insulation, and carpeting. The costs of the repairs, as well as the compensation to residents whose belongings became damaged, are being covered by the combined insurances of the apartment complex and the company that installed the pipes, Sullivan Sprinkler.

The break occurred at about 12:15 p.m. that Wednesday in a "dry line" pipe in the building's attic that is connected to the sprinkler system. The pipe is usually full of pressurized air, which makes way for water when the sprinkler system is activated. However, when the line broke, the water rushed out, dousing the apartments and causing the damage. The reason for the breakage is not yet known.

According to the property manager of the apartment complex, Marcia Sherlock, some of the residents who were displaced by the flooding are staying with family while the repairs are taking place, while others are staying at the Gold Mountain Resort in Spring Glen.

"Mr. [Harris] Lapidus is being an extremely good neighbor," she said, referring to the owner of the resort, who she said has been very helpful and generous in this unexpected situation.

"The Napanoch fire department was fabulous. For the controlled chaos that we had, the fact that we had as much control as we did is really good," said Sherlock. "And [Ellenville Regional Hospital CEO and President ] Steve Kelley, [brought] the tenants to the hospital so they could go sit in the cafeteria instead of standing out in the cold for the hours that it took to figure out if it was safe to come back in or not…a whole bunch of people really worked well together to get it as calm as possible, as soon as possible."

"We've got to take care of people — we can't have people without a place to live for very long," said Kelley of the events.

"Thank God it wasn't fire, thank God no one got hurt. We had a really good response from Napanoch — they don't get enough credit for what they do, our local firemen," said Sherlock.

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