Galveston residents say apartment's sandblasting caused cough, pets to get sick
GALVESTON, Texas - Some residents at the Oceanfront Galveston Apartments say they developed a violent cough after being exposed to sandblasting materials. The residents claim their pets also started getting sick from the exposure.
"Sand had filled my truck, inside and outside of my truck, in my apartment; we were breathing it for two days. Little bit of respiratory problems and Monster, my dog, she was developing a little bit of a cough and throwing up," said Keith Soffes.
"A day or two after ingesting the sandblasting, I couldn't breathe hardly, and I started coughing up, choking. It felt like everything started hurting. I knew something was wrong when I started turning blue or purple, so I decided to go to the emergency room," said Tabitha Faulkner.
"I was coughing so badly, I threw up. I saw that on the bags that they were using to sandblast, it said 'dangerous' and 'don’t inhale' and we’re all just walking our dogs and ourselves, we’re walking down there," said Christine Nguyen.
Nguyen said her complaints and concerns to the apartment's management went unheard to the point where she decided to move out after two years.
The complaints eventually escalated to the city. Galveston Chief Deputy Marshall James Pope said investigators came out to the apartments to investigate and determined that the debris was being improperly disposed.
Authorities then issued a stop work order.
"We did find that they had been removing some of the rust and paint from the steel underneath the building. They’ve got the permit to do some of the repair work for the garage, but they couldn’t leave the debris and stuff and push it off into the storm drain and pick it off the ground, because it’s got paint chips and material in it that can’t be disposed of," Pope said.
"It’s a violation of MS4 regulations in the city ordinance that they can't put paint and that kind of debris into the storm drains and pass it down. It stops up the storm drains, and you don’t know what's in the materials," Pope continued.
FOX 26 requested an interview or a statement response with representatives from the Oceanfront Apartments, but officials declined to comment on the issue.
Galveston city authorities say the case remains under review.