DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Some DeKalb County neighbors say they are dealing with major flooding because thieves keep stealing water heaters and copper pipes.
Channel 2’s Cory James spoke with neighbors at The Hills at Fairington apartment complex on Fairington Rd. in Stonecrest who say they are fed up with how it’s being handled.
They say the latest incident happened on Sunday, leaving them without water for almost 24 hours until repairs were made.
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“We had no water. People went to work and school without being able to wash their butt and brush their teeth,” Artavia Scott said.
Scott says they have had repeated flooding over the last several months.
“Because people keep stealing hot water tanks and copper out of the wall,” she said.
She says that on Sunday night, she heard thieves inside the unit moment before water started gushing into her neighbor’s apartment. Video from inside shows flooding, broken dry wall and water heater with cut wires.
“It sounded like just what it was, somebody kicking in a door. I was like, ‘Hey, hey,’ but a shadowy person went running from that area,” Scott said.
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James called and texted the property manager several times to get their side of the story, but she hung up on him multiple times.
When he called back, she eventually said there have been no thefts of water heaters or water outages, even though a photo shows a plumbing crew on scene when James arrived.
“It’s been happening for like two months,” another neighbor said. “It flooded from that apartment to this apartment and then my apartment. This is twice.”
James also went to the leasing office to make another attempt at getting a statement, but was turned away.
“It’s time for somebody to be responsible for what’s going on,” Scott said. “We asked them to get us some security.”
James reached out to police for information on the alleged thefts and is waiting to hear back.
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