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Tenants wait for heat to return 4 days after KCMO apartment gas leak

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UPDATE 12/6: The gas and heat in Harvard Court apartments have been turned back on.
 
ORIGINAL STORY:
 
Four days after gas was shut off at the Harvard Court apartment complex because of a gas leak, crews worked on Monday to get the gas back on for tenants.
 
41 Action News first reported the outage on Saturday.
 
By Monday afternoon, some of the residents still had no gas or heat.
 
"We went all these days with no heat, no hot water, and no way to cook," explained Judy Markley, who moved into the Harvard Court apartment complex two months ago. 
 
Markley said tenants were first told that gas would return by last Friday evening, however, days later she still was waiting for the heat to turn back on.
 
 
"Saturday, we were told that it's going to take contractors -- they can't get until probably Monday," she explained. "They didn't even tell you. You got notices under your door."
 
With the arrival of gas crews on Monday, Markley felt an obvious sense of relief.
 
"I'm very hopeful it's going to get fixed," she explained. "I need to shower."
 
However, as crews worked to fix the problem, Marley explained to 41 Action News how she wished the apartment complex handled the situation better.
 
"It's frustrating. I feel like, at the very least, resources should have been offered to us," she said. "They should've said, 'Here's a list of places you can try or options that you have.' Why didn't they offer the people a shower in one of the empty units that there's nobody living in?"
 
Harvard Court apartment managers declined to comment on the story.
 
With single-digit temperatures and possible snow in the metro area later this week, Markley hoped a similar problem wouldn't happen again.
 
 
"I don't want to be in there," she said. "However, I don't want to have to pay out my money to go stay warm at a hotel either."
 
As a result of the gas outage incident, Markley said she and husband were considering moving to another apartment area.
 
"I'm certainly not going to not have the basic essentials that I pay you for," she said.
 
By Monday night, it was unknown if gas was back on at the affected apartment units.
 
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Tom Dempsey can be reached at Tom.Dempsey@KSHB.com.

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