TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa man has been trying to help people he doesn't even know for an apartment complex he doesn't even live or work at.
For the past four days, Steve Manning has been getting dozens of calls.
"The calls were anywhere from about 20 an hour," says Manning. "The calls did get overwhelming when I got up to hundreds and hundreds of calls. Sometimes I’d be on the phone leaving a message and there would be about three or four that would come in in just one minute."
All the calls came from residents at the Cascades at Southern Hills Apartments.
Residents were calling about water leaks, no heat, and their rent, but they weren't able to reach the apartment owners or management. It's because the number they were calling to get into contact with the Cascades was Manning's number.
"I would take their info down because apparently all the calls going into Cascade Apartments were being directed into my personal cell phone."
The catch? Manning doesn't live in the apartments or anywhere near them. He also doesn't work for the apartments either. Manning is a retired business owner who's being flooded with hundreds of calls from Cascade residents anyway.
"Throughout that night the calls got frantic because it was getting cold," Manning recalls. "I was fielding, in the beginning, sometimes 30 or 40 an hour."
Madding says he tried focusing on some of the calls that were heat-related and residents who were having water issues.
He even went as far as speaking to the City of Tulsa's Water Department after Manning says he spoke to an elderly woman who told him her apartment was flooding.
"I did get a call back from the water company fairly quickly and they were calling, actually they called my phone they were trying to reach the apartment complex to get permission to go in and turn the water off."
The City of Tulsa tells 2 News they did shut the water off in one of the buildings at the complex over concerns of flooding issues.
Manning also contacted the Tulsa Police Department who he says went and checked on some of the residents who were without heat.
"City services and the Tulsa Police Department jumped right on this," says Manning. "When I called TPD and talked to the desk sergeant I got a call from the squad car within 3 minutes and they were heading to the complex."
Although the residents were in tough situations, Manning says they were all very kind when he spoke to them.
"Here they were without heat... Many in the nighttime when it was 12 degrees and they didn’t have heat. They were remarkably understanding."
2 News also spoke with the acting property manager and she says she found out about the phone issues this morning from residents. She also confirmed that a couple of pipes had busted which contributed to the flooding issues in the complex.
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