Hundreds of San Francisco residents remain displaced from water-leak at luxury high rise

SAN FRANCISCO - Hundreds of residents have been displaced from a high-rise luxury apartment complex in San Francisco after a water leak in the upper floors of the tower.

Videos shared with KTVU by residents appear to show water running down walls in a stairwell and water pooling in the hallways of the apartment. A water leak on Friday afternoon forced a mandatory evacuation of the building.

Now, four days later, residents are left wondering when they’ll be able to return home. Updates have been hard to come by.

"This is the second time this year a pipe has burst," Jordan Hally said. "That’s alarming structurally."

Some residents like Alison Nojima, said management put them up in a hotel over the weekend. But Nojima later learned she had to be out of the hotel room by Monday because the hotel was overbooked. A spokesperson for 33 Tehama said hotel accommodations were provided to tenants in various locations in the city and acknowledged that some people had to be re-booked due to limited availability in those hotels. 33 Tehama apartment building is home to roughly 400 tenants.

"They promised us one thing and that hasn’t been the case so we’re scrambling trying to figure out where to go next," Nojima said.

The following statement was provided to KTVU on behalf of 33 Tehama in regard to the incident.

A water leak that began around 2 p.m. on Friday, June 3, at 33 Tehama caused flooding in parts of the building and a mandatory evacuation. 

We are working diligently to make repairs and restore safety systems and utilities. We are conducting an extensive investigation to determine the cause of the water leak at the property.

The safety and well-being of our residents is our top priority, so immediately upon closing the building we provided our tenants with hotel accommodations. Due to limited availability at many hotels across the city and previous bookings at the hotels we were able to confirm, we have had to re-book some residents at different hotels. We are continuing to work with our residents to address their needs and provide access to their units on an appointment basis, as the building remains closed while we assess the damage. 

At this time, we do not have a time frame for re-opening. We will provide more information as it becomes available.  

We are grateful to the San Francisco Fire Department for they work in responding to the problem and assistance during the evacuation.

We are appreciative of our residents’ patience and understanding during this very difficult and disruptive situation.  We are truly sorry for the inconveniences they are experiencing and are working around the clock to accommodate their needs.

"It was an accident and things happen," Arvada Grant, a resident, said. "I believe our staff is working get everyone taken care of. I know they’re working hard. They’re dealing with a lot of frustrated people so I try to be kind."