Health Dept. Begins Tornado Cleanup After Apt. Complex Defies Order

INDIANAPOLIS -- Health department cleanup crews began work Tuesday at an east-side apartment complex that hasn't been repaired since it was damaged in a tornado on May 30.

The management at the Falcon Point Apartments near 38th Street and Mitthoeffer Road missed a court-ordered deadline to begin cleaning up trash and debris around the complex by Monday, health officials said.

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Previous Images: Storms Leave Significant Damage

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"What we tried to do was work with them because we knew it was due to the tornado," said health department spokeswoman Dana Reedwise. "We were working with them thinking they were applying for federal assistance to cleanup the property or to demo the buildings or whatever they wanted to do and they had not done anything."

Tuesday, apartment security officers initially wouldn't allow workers to begin hauling away debris, 6News' Jack Rinehart reported, but the situation was resolved when health department officials presented the court order.

Area residents had complained for weeks about conditions at the 15-acre complex, which had been sitting vacant since the tornado.

"We have rodents in here. We got children, about 1,000 children, who go to school right across the street. And for the people who live in this community, it's a terrible thing," said Pastor James Jackson of the nearby Fervent Prayer Church.

Officials at John Marshall Community High School, which sits across the street from the complex, joined with area clergy to petition the city to move forward on the cleanup.

"It helps out our kids. They don't have to feel depressed going home everyday and looking at a place that's rat-infested, that has debris all over the place. Now they're going to clean it up and hopefully we'll get it demolished real quick and we can move forward," said Principal Jeffrey White.

Early next month, an administrative judge is expected to rule on a separate health department order to demolish the complex.

The health department Tuesday imposed a lien on the apartment complex's owner to recover the cost of the cleanup, officials said.