Several lanes at the intersection of Windhorst Road and Parsons Avenue in Brandon remained closed for the indefinite future as county workers tread carefully in determining what caused a section of the roadway to collapse July 19.
“We have to be really careful at that intersection because there are lots of utility lines in the area,” said Hillsborough County spokesman Patrick Murray. "We have a sewer line and a water line there and we have to make sure there are no other utilities, so we have to be careful drilling.”
At the scene, late afternoon July 22, barricades were seen at the intersection, with drilling under way.
Crew workers first believed a 16-inch sewage pipeline beneath the intersection might have caused the collapse of the 6-foot-square section of roadway on July 19, according to a county report.
But the sewer line was dug up and found to be intact. Now the county is testing the intersection for sinkholes — but carefully, as Murray noted.
Additional detours and lane closures are possible as crews dig up the line for inspection and any necessary repairs.
Motorists who must travel through the intersection are warned to expect delays.
Derrick Johnson
No victims found in huge debris pile after corner of Bronx apartment building collapses
NEW YORK (AP) — Firefighters said they didn’t find anybody trapped in an enormous mound of rubble Monday after a corner of a seven-story Bronx apartment building collapsed, leaving apartments exposed like a stack of shelves and a convenience store partly buried under bricks and wood.
Firefighters spent hours searching a pile of debris that was 12 feet (3.6 meters) high in spots, the fire department reported on social media late Monday night. No victims were found but two people received minor injuries while evacuating the damaged building, the department said.
The proprietor of the ground floor shop said the people inside got out safely, city officials said.
During the search, firefighters used buckets, power tools and heavy equipment while officials kept a watchful eye on the portions of the building that remained standing.
“Our main objective is to get to the bottom of that pile,” Fire Department Chief of Department John Hodgens said at an earlier news conference. “We’ll be here until it’s down to the street level, just to make sure if there are any victims under there, hopefully we can get to them in time.”
Officials were looking into what caused the collapse, which happened at a 1927 building that had been undergoing facade repairs.
A worker at a nearby deli, Julian Rodriguez, said he was behind the counter when he heard people screaming about a building collapse.
“When I went outside, all you could see is the debris and a smoke cloud in the street,” said Rodriguez, 22. “And you could see inside the structure: people’s beds, their doors, closets, lights, everything. It was really scary.”
A corner of the building stood with its walls sheared off and floors sagging, with a heap of debris spilling out into the street. In one apartment, a bed stood feet away from the edge of a floor that now jutted out into the air; in another, art hanging on the wall was visible. Elsewhere, an armchair rested on a floor that tilted precariously down, like the top of a staved-in box.
One of the collapsed rooms appeared to be a child’s bedroom. A tiny pink jacket hung on a hook. Boxes of playthings and clothing were visible on cabinets that still stood on the remaining parts of the floor.
Firefighters shined bright lights into apartment windows from high ladders and used at least one drone to peer in. A search dog plied the pile, which included twisted and jumbled metal, apparently from scaffolding, and a robotic dog also headed into the debris.
Firefighters carted away rubble in buckets and used circular saws to cut through the collapsed scaffolding, and an excavator clawed through the rubble.
“We’re tunneling into that debris pile as safely as we can,” Hodgens said. “Firefighters right now are in a dangerous position. We don’t know what caused this corner of this building to come down. We don’t know if any of it is going to come down.”
A 2020 inspection found cracked brick and loose, damaged mortar on the building’s facade, Buildings Department records show. Commissioner Jimmy Oddo said Monday that work had started but he didn’t believe any workers were there at the time of the collapse.
“I want to be clear: Unsafe facade conditions is not the same as an unsafe building,” he said at the news conference. While the property had seven unresolved violations, they weren’t structural, he said.
Oddo said officials would scrutinize drawings pertaining to the collapsed area. The images were submitted as part of permitting for the facade work.
The phone rang unanswered at a possible number for the building’s owner.
Security camera video obtained by several news organizations showed people scattering off the sidewalk as debris rained down in a billowing cloud of dust.
A resident of the building’s sixth floor, Domingo Taveras Tejada, said he was slightly hurt in the panic of the escape.
“When I heard the collapse, I went running and I fell down the stairs. When I went outside, I saw the collapse,” the 32-year-old said.
Building resident Norma Arias told The New York Times she had just returned from buying cilantro at the bodega when she heard a loud boom in her first floor apartment and heard a neighbor scream, “Everybody get out. The building is coming down.”
Buildings Department records show the structure has nearly 50 apartments. Residents were being directed to a school to get help, and the city was parking buses near the building as a place to stay warm.
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This story has been corrected to show that the building is seven stories tall, not six stories tall.
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Associated Press writers Michael R. Sisak and Cedar Attanasio contributed.
https://apnews.com/article/bronx-building-collapse-nyc-f4d809615f7f...
Dec 12, 2023
Yvonne Lawson
Horror as Dutch hospital car park collapses with emergency services saying they are unable to rule out casualties beneath the rubble
A Dutch hospital car park has collapsed with emergency services saying they are unable to rule out casualties beneath the rubble
A Dutch hospital car park has collapsed with emergency services saying they are unable to rule out casualties beneath the rubble.
Part of the parking garage at St. Antony hospital in the central Dutch city of Nieuwegein collapsed last night, emergency services said.
It was not immediately clear if any people were trapped under the rubble.
The regional security service said in a message on X that the ramps used by cars to drive between floors in the six-story building at the Saint Antonius hospital all fell.
'All the ramps have collapsed, not the parking places,' Kelly van Ruler, a spokeswoman for the Utrecht Security Region, told Dutch radio station NPO 1.
Van Ruler said authorities could not rule out casualties, but added that they did not immediately know of any.
She said firefighters and other emergency services were inspecting the building to establish if it was safe to enter.
The collapse happened after regular visiting hours at the hospital. which is near the central Dutch city of Utrecht.
Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13462655/Dutch-hospital-ca...
May 27, 2024
Tracie Crespo
https://www.wdsu.com/article/new-orleans-building-collapse-lower-ga...
New Orleans crews on the scene of partial building collapse in Lower Garden District
New Orleans Fire Department are on the scene of a partial building collapse on Magazine Street and Felicity Street in the Lower Garden District.
The building collapsed around 5:45 p.m.
According to Entergy New Orleans, the building collapsed first causing the transformer to blow.
“A structure collapse at the corner of Magazine and Felicity caused damage to Entergy equipment, including a transformer — which created the flash seen by those nearby. To be clear: the transformer was impacted by the building collapse; it was not the cause. Entergy crews are on site and working with public safety agencies to secure the location.”
Dash Cam video from LaRhonda Lou Collins shows the building collapsing and then the transformer exploding.
Power Outages:
The restaurant Gris-Gris, which is across the street from the building posted on facebook that they are currently shut down and partially out of power due to the building collapsing from across the street.
Previous building collapses:
This is the second partial building to collapse in the past two weeks.
A building partially collapsed in the 600 block of O'Keefe Avenue, between Girod and Lafayette Street on Dec. 14.
Many businesses in that area were evacuated in the area due to the collapse.
The businesses were able to reopen two weeks after the initial collapse.
In September, a building collapsed in Central City at the intersection Oretha Castle Boulevard and Thalia Street near the New Orleans Jazz Market.
No other information has been provided at this time.
WDSU is working to find more information about the building collapse.
Dec 31, 2024