HURRICANE, Utah — A southern Utah mother and her newborn daughter are considering themselves to be lucky after they were uninjured when the ceiling of their Hurricane apartment caved in unexpectedly.
"As I was shutting the door and I looked back, it was just a gray cloud," explained Jerika Peterson.
Peterson's daughter's room looks almost unrecognizable after the collapse in the third floor apartment Monday.
"I was just feeding my daughter and all the sudden I heard the ceiling start to fall, so I grabbed her and ran out the door as fast as I could," she said. "My neighbor was coming up the stairs so I was like, 'here, take the baby cause I have a service animal,' he got left in the apartment."
Peterson worried about the ceiling after noticing her fan and light fixture was pooling with water. She believes the culprit was a burst pipe from a swamp cooler that hadn't been winterized.
"Three or four months ago the same thing happened in the apartment next door, their bathroom ceiling fell through because the pipe burst to their swamp cooler," Peterson said.
According to Peterson, the ceiling cave in is just one of multiple issues she's experienced with Home Key Property Management.
"It got to the point where they agreed to let us live on a month-to-month [lease] just because of the complaints we've had," she said.
Officials with Home Key Property Management had no comment in regards to what occurred at Peterson's apartment.
Peterson and her boyfriend are continuing to survey the amount of damage caused by the cave in.
"All of our daughter's stuff was in there, I mean thousands of dollars from the last 9-10 months since I found out I was pregnant," she said. "Everything was in there."
Peterson is grateful for the one thing she hopes will make an unthinkable situation manageable.
"Making sure you have renter's insurance," Peterson explained. "Making sure that you're paying attention to stuff like that even when you do rent. Just document everything try to take as many pictures and videos."
Renters insurance is not a required coverage, but some individual landlords or property management companies may require it in a rental agreement.
Tracy Klausmeier, Property & Casualty Division Director at the Utah Insurance Department, says coverage details depends on the specific policy but generally, renter's insurance policies will cover personal property, liability or medical payments for someone who comes into a rental space.
"We would always encourage consumers to get the insurance that's going to protect the things that they own," Klausmeier said. "Renters policies, it depends on the coverage you decide on how much it's going to cost you."
Klausmeier suggested contacting an agent to learn more about rental policies and best fits.
"Insurance agents are so good, they know all of the answers, and can really help point them in the right direction," she said.
CLICK HERE to learn more about renter's insurance in Utah.
