Lakeland apartments 'not livable' after TS Emily

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - Tropical Storm Emily is gone, but Nick Tsikuris is never going to forget her. That's because she left her mark in all over his apartment.

The most memorable one was in his bedroom closet. Monday afternoon when Tsikuris got home from work he discovered that the ceiling had collapsed.

"I couldn't believe my eyes," he told FOX 13. "I thought: "Oh my God! All my stuff was in there."
  
His clothes and shoes were soaked. His mattress marked with big water stains.

"This is molded by now. It is not repairable, and I am going to have to get an entirely new mattress," he said.

Emily also left stains all over the ceiling in his living room. He was afraid eventually mold might grow in the ceiling and walls.

"The apartment was not livable," he said.

So Tsikuris asked a manager if he could move into another unit while his was being repaired. He says he was told that no other units were available and he could not get out of his lease.

"I felt that there was no sympathy toward the tenant. I didn't cause any of this damage. This was done by a natural

On Wednesday, FOX 13 stepped in and contacted the out of state management company. By days end, the company agreed to let him out of his lease.

Tsikuris says he is elated, and thankful to be able to soon move on and leave his water soaked memories of Emily behind.