Miami Condominium Residents Get Some Power Back

Residents of the Venetia condominiums got their power partially restored on Wednesday.

They had been in the dark since Monday.

The power was restored for the residents, but they will not get air conditioning. One of seven elevators are now functioning. But none of the 30 commercial businesses within the building will get power.

Before the power was restored, one resident had said the stairwells were dark. And some said they had not been getting answers. Letters handed out to residents by the management company explained power had to be shut off Monday after emergency repairs to an ac unit caused a pipe to burst. It resulted in flooding to the 11th floor and the floors below that. The flooding in turn caused a transformer to blow out, which resulted in the power failure, the letter indicated.

The highrise houses businesses as well. Robert Dante, owner of the Velvet Basement, a recording studio, said his business had been gravely impacted. Every day he goes without power, he's losing out on business.

"It's been very frustrating. I've had clients, it's been a busy week, but I've had to cancel all my sessions. There's no electricity, no water," Dante said.

NBC 6 tried to get answers from the management company but were asked to leave the building. A woman who said she represents the condo association said they were working to solve the problem.

Miami Fire Rescue responded to a call about a person who was unconscious in the building. That person was treated on the scene.

Florida Power and Light crews were on the scene working to fix the problem. One of the road blocks is that the burst water pipe may have also caused damage to the electrical room, according to Lt. Ignatius Carroll, with Miami Fire Rescue. It was not immediately known when the power would be restored.

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