CLEVELAND — This wicked weather isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and that has a woman on Cleveland’s West Side worried. She said the cold and a week-old water main break have now surrounded her home with ice.
“Look at the ice. The ice goes up to here now,” said Maria Voljin, 75, while pointing to the ice with her cane.
She lives on Rutledge Avenue, where the water and ice problems have her thinking.
"If you get to be a certain age, you know, you’re not going to be able to get up if you fall on ice,” said Voljin. “A couple of days ago, my neighbor fell right in front of that other gate! And she’s not young either.”
She told us the city came out last week, but only put up yellow crime scene tape. She and her neighbors said the bigger crime here is not addressing the issue better.
"I know a bunch of us have called like the water company,” said Jeremy Moses, who lives directly across the street from Voljin. “They just put up some like do not cross police tape, and that doesn’t really fix the problem, and it also, like, you can see. They’ve trapped her in with police tape. She can’t even get out of her gate now.”
And this isn’t the first time this has happened said Voljin. About two years ago, she said another break caused problems in the middle of very cold weather.
"We had the same thing. There was a geyser here, three feet of water gushing out of my rose garden right here,” said Voljin.
News 5 contacted the city, the water department, and city council. Councilwoman Nikki Hudson said she would get on this problem right away to help as quickly as possible. The water department said it’s now working with Public Works and the Department of Aging to help with the ice problem.
Not a moment too soon said Voljin.
"I don’t want to have an emergency and then be put in a nursing home, you know, because I had a fall or something,” said Voljin. “We need to have services. We need to be safe! And look, I’m not safe! Period!”
Cleveland Water issued the following statement:
“Due to the extremely cold temperatures, our service area is experiencing a number of main breaks. We prioritize breaks based on several factors, including the severity of break, number of customers affected, and overall system integrity. Our repair crews are working to address them as quickly as possible.
During the winter, we coordinate with our city and suburban partners for salt application and ice removal when water from a leak is creating hazardous conditions. We are in communication with Cleveland’s Department of Public Works and Department of Aging to assist with the ice buildup in front of her property.”
