Tenants Return to Apartments After Storm-Related Damage

Residents of a 16-unit Hollywood apartment complex were allowed to return to their homes Friday after being forced out by storm-related damage the night before.

Heavy rain caused a wall in the complex to bulge, prompting city fire officials to evacuate tenants until the Building and Safety Department deemed the structure in the 5000 block of Carlton Way safe for occupancy Friday morning.

“It was too hard to observe in the dead of night whether it was safe or not, so we red-tagged the building [Thursday] night,” said building inspector David Keim. “Since that time we sent out a field inspector who found that the damage was not structural.”

Four people spent the night in hotel rooms paid for by the Red Cross. Only one unit within the building, the manager’s, is still considered unsafe, and inspectors said that minimal repairs would fix those problems.

“It’s an old building in need of some maintenance, but it’s not inherently dangerous,” Keim said.