Several Still in Red Cross Shelter After North Miami Apartment Roof Collapse

The owner of a North Miami building said he hopes tenants displaced by a partial roof collapse can move back in by Friday night.

A total of 17 people were still at a Red Cross shelter in Miami Gardens Friday morning after the Thursday morning collapse forced more than 200 residents to evacuate the Gold King Apartments at 13285 Northeast 6th Avenue.

According to police, crews had been working on the roof of the building earlier in the week but hadn't finished before heavy rain moved into the area Thursday morning.

As a result, water got into the building and flooded several of the approximately 80 units, causing dropped ceilings and flooding the building's elevator shaft, police said.

The electricity to the building was shut off and residents were forced to evacuate.

This kind of emergency is something building owner Allen Chelminsky has experienced before. In Texas, residents were forced out of their building after their electricity and gas were turned off - not paid for by Allen Chelminsky and his father, Shlomo Chelminsky. The Chelminskys own many buildings in North Miami.

Meanwhile, residents remain worried about their neighbors in the building with disabilities. One woman said she wasn’t given anytime to get her belongings.

"I have all my stuff in there, all my clothes in there, but they didn't tell us when we're going to come back," Marie Aubourg said.

"A shelter probably isn't the most comfortable thing, so those people that can go to friends, relatives, and things like that - they are encouraged to do that, but if they absolutely have no place to go, the Red Cross will take care of them," Red Cross spokeswoman Tammy Jackson-Moore said.

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