After over 100 Tallahassee senior citizens were left in the dark for days after tornadoes ripped through the capital, elected officials and state agency leaders are looking to require developers who build affordable housing for seniors and people with disabilities in Florida to include emergency generators.
“It will cost more, but what is the liability if we don’t?” asked Rep. Allison Tant, D-Tallahassee.
The move, backed by Tant, comes after residents of the Brookestone Senior Residences in Tallahassee were left without power for four days after three tornadoes struck in May.
Wheelchair-bound residents of the 55-plus affordable housing complex were stuck on the second and third floor without elevator access; insulin and dialysis-dependent residents were at risk of becoming sick; and everyone lost all the food in their refrigerators, residents said.