KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A couple who lives in an apartment in West Knoxville came home to find it flooded during the Christmas holiday. 

Lily Crosby and her husband said a sprinkler pipe burst in the apartment above theirs and flooded their apartment. A light fixture on their ceiling came down and trapped their dog, they said. 

Crosby said the water damaged their carpet, some electronics, gaming systems and wooden bookshelves. She said Thursday that Greenbrier Ridge’s management company has not yet cleared the water out of their apartment. 

“Our apartment just sat in this dirty water for several days,” Crosby said. “It continued to leak throughout the rest of the apartment.”

Brandon Patterson, an insurance agent with Ownby Insurance in Sevierville, said documenting the damage is key to getting reimbursed from insurance. 

“If you can get pictures, video, anything like that,” Patterson said. 

He said people should try to stop more damage from happening, but don’t try to do the repairs themselves. Insurance companies may not pay to fix it if they mess up the repairs.

“You definitely want a licensed contractor to come out and do the work,” Patterson said. 

He said if residents have renters insurance, the insurance company will reimburse them for their personal items inside of the apartment — but not for the apartment itself. 

Patterson said if anyone can’t live in their home or their apartment because of water damage, their insurance company will likely pay for them to live somewhere else. 

“Most policies have a provision to help pay for those costs, while you’re not able to live there,” Patterson said. 

Crosby said she and her husband have renters insurance, but their deductible is $1,000. In the meantime, she said she’d like the apartment complex to help. 

“We have not been offered anywhere else to stay, we have not been offered a place to put our furniture,” Crosby said. 

The management company responsible for the Greenbrier Ridge Apartments responded to 10News in an email statement. 

This is an unfortunate event and an unprecedented weather situation we have faced over the last week. We have done our best to respond and communicate with our residents. The teams at our communities have been putting in long hours and doing the absolute best they can. The freezing temperatures have led to numerous water and sprinkler pipe breaks, causing significant damage to real and personal property. We try to make it clear upon lease signing that we are unable cover a resident’s personal property. However, we highly encourage our residents to obtain renters insurance which would cover their personal belongings in instances such as this. Although not perfect, we have tried to respond to this resident’s needs and want to do our best to make sure they are inconvenienced as little as possible. We will continue to do so and hope that the situation will be resolved as quickly as possible.