ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – A St. Louis County woman said she’s had standing water in her apartment for days and doesn’t feel safe walking in her own kitchen.

Theresa Denson alleges it’s not the first time water has overflowed at her apartment at Lucas Hunt Village.

“This is not livable,” Denson said. “This was murky, grainy, grayish, blackish water, and the odor was really, really bad.”

Denson said it’s not a leaky faucet. She claims this comes from the pipes below the sink.

“It’ll just come right up,” she said.

The 80-year-old claimed her kitchen had an inch of standing water on the floor since Oct. 6.

She filed a service ticket, writing that she heard dripping water from the kitchen and water pouring from over the counter.

Denson said she’s tried going to the leasing office.

“They pretty much have said they just don’t have a way to fix it until they get the contractor they have over to this property,” Denson said.

She said she slipped a few days ago in the murky water but caught herself on the sink counter and is scared to walk into her kitchen.

“I am not living. I’m existing at this point,” Denson said.

The Lucas Hunt Village complex is surrounded by municipalities. With the City of Jennings on one side of the street and Norwood Courts on the other, the FOX Files found that Denson lives in an unincorporated part of St. Louis County.

St. Louis County spokesman David Wrone said after the FOX Files alerted them to the issue, they sent an inspector to the apartment and found a life-safety violation.

“We didn’t know about it until you contacted St. Louis County Government,” Wrone said. “The information we had going into it was a senior citizen, water on the slick kitchen floor, slip hazard; that’s quite serious, and we responded accordingly.”

Wrone said the inspector issued a notice of violation, citing the apartment complex for having plumbing and system hazards.

“We rely quite strongly on the public and in this case, the media, to help us to protect the community,” Wrong said.

Denson said she sleeps with her cell phone now.

“Right by the bed, so I can grab it in the middle of the night if I smell smoke, hear something,” she said.

Since our investigation, a plumber has shown up, but Denson still has issues at her apartment.

The FOX Files has reached out to the apartment complex for comment, but we have not heard back.

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