Dozens of seniors evacuated from Manchester, N.J. nursing home
Dozens of residents of a New Jersey nursing home had to be evacuated Tuesday due to a serious water issue.
It happened at the Whiting Nursing Home in Manchester Tuesday.
Senior citizens were wheeled out of the lobby one by one and outside into below-freezing temperatures, where they were met by a caravan of ambulances, emergency response vehicles, and more. The cycle repeated all day Tuesday.
Authorities blamed a massive leak overnight in the south wing of the nursing home, which they say compromised its electrical integrity and sprinkler system. That led to the evacuation of 59 people.
"When I first went in, they had a lot of patients here lined up in wheelchairs," Jackie Vashey said.
Vashey's mother lives at the home, but thankfully was not in the impacted wing. Vashey said staff were doing their best to calm the residents as police, firefighters, the sheriff's office and EMS worked to move them en masse.
"A lot of them are seniors and they're here alone, with no family members that even visit," Vashey said. "So they're getting very much reassured and that's important."
The evacuated residents were moved to Trenton Gardens in Trenton and Shore Gardens in Twin Rivers, which are sister locations to Whiting Nursing Home.
"The extend of the damage was more than I hoped for," Manchester Mayor Joseph Hankins said. "I'm sure that location was selected because they're close to home close to relatives and we certainly want to get them back where they're in a safe environment and they're able to live where they want to be."
The investigation is ongoing, police said. While no additional movement is planned, police say they can't rule out additional evacuations.
Staff at Whiting Nursing Home declined to comment on the matter.