Dozens left without home after flood waters condemn Lewiston apartment building

An apartment building on Union Street in Lewiston was condemned after rain gushed down each floor.

“It was pouring down the hallway and down the staircases. It almost looked like that scene from Titanic,” Lewiston resident Tiffany Scavetta said. “I was in the middle of my work shift and I just heard, 'Everyone, we’ve got to get out.'”

The building’s 10 units are uninhabitable and dozens of people have nowhere to go.

The Red Cross is now trying to help find emergency housing, but several people had to sleep outside Tuesday night.

“About half of us slept out front on the ground because we didn’t have anywhere else to go,” Scavetta said.

Central Maine Property Management manages the building and says they tried finding help at the Hope House, but they were full.

Lewiston Director of Code Enforcement, David Hediger, says they believe the drains on the roof of the building were overwhelmed by the rain, and that’s what likely forced water to begin pouring down inside.

“Most of us, as you can see, don’t know what to do next, or where to go, where to get help,” Scavetta said.

Tenants were forced to put multiple pets into small crates.

Sluhocki has three cats that were still inside his flooded unit on Wednesday.

Because they’re inside cats, and he has nowhere to go, he fears he will have to surrender them.

“I’ve been in there throughout the day and they’re fine right now, but we’re probably going to end up having to put them in an animal shelter,” Sluhocki said. “They can’t be outside. They’re not outdoor cats, they wouldn’t survive.”

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