Orlando apartment complex damaged during weekend storms

ORLANDO, Fla. - Several people were left without a home temporarily after an apartment building in Orlando was condemned from damage in Friday night’s storms. 

The Orlando Fire Department said code enforcement was on scene at the Summerfield apartments in Orlando after storms damaged one of the buildings.

"It started with a little drip in the dining room, to the bathroom being flooded. My daughter’s ceiling caving in and then the dining room falling in and the kitchen being flooded as well," Jerleisa Tyree, who lives at the apartment complex, said. She was eating dinner with her 9-year-old daughter Friday night. The rain started and came quickly.

"They were doing construction on the roof, but I’m not sure that the tarp was secured, so it just came in really fast," Tyree said.

Firefighters were told the building was under construction at the time, but due to damage from the storm, it had to be condemned. The rain flooded all eight units in the building and at least 14 people were forced to leave, according to the fire department. The Red Cross is helping those people, but Tyree said she only has a hotel for one more night. Then, she has to find somewhere else to go.

"Just not having something secured for my child, I think that’s the worst worry that I have right now," Tyree said.

Tyree said the company that owns the apartments, SPM, notified tenants a few days before the rain that they would be making repairs to the roof. Tyree said this isn’t the first time this has happened. Her ceiling collapsed in a different unit she lived in on the property last year. Another tenant, Takeisha Middleton, said the same thing happened to her last month.

"I walked in the room and heard the water and looked up, and it was the ceiling," Middleton said. 

Tyree said management at the complex told her she has to collect any of her remaining belongings by the end of the day Monday. She won’t be going back there to live, but after losing almost all of her and her daughter’s belongings, she’s not sure if her renter's insurance will cover the cost."You work hard for your things and in the blink of an eye, they’re gone," Tyree said.

FOX 35 News reached out to the company that owns the apartment complex, but we have not heard back.

You can donate to help Tyree and her daughter on their GoFundMe page.