Collapsing Buildings and Roadways

[Starr DiGiacomo]

 

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/asia/bangladesh-building-collapse.html?hp&_r=0

 

Published: April 24, 2013

NEW DELHI — An eight-story building in Bangladesh that housed several garment factories collapsed on Wednesday morning, killing at least 70 people, injuring hundreds of others, and leaving an unknown number of people trapped in the rubble, according to Bangladeshi officials and media outlets.... http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/world/asia/bangladesh-building-co...

 

So much happening under our feet.  Daily collapses of roadways due to the severe bow stretch, severe rains, crunching and land subduction all predicted in Zetatalk and all happening now.  Last week in Utah a fatal road collapse killed a 14 year old girl and injured 2.  It's painful to watch the planet crumble but we all knew it was coming.

Buildings collapsing.........a daily happening too.  With responses about what's causing all these happenings ranging from, rain, human error, poorly constructed, yada yada.....BUT, that's not going to fly with people much longer.  As soon as Planet X peers out at us from the sky, people will remember all the things that have happened up to this point and finally somehow, they will connect the dots.  Some will be in extreme denial, others will be so afraid and look for someone to take care of them, and still others will stand up and be counted and prepare as best we could.  There's no wishing this away, there's only pushing forward to a better tomorrow.  While our infrastructure crumbles around us we need to learn to be more careful, tread softly, kiss your kids, love with all your heart.  We are IN IT NOW.

I live in a house built in 1850 and it isn't falling down.  Age does not mean collapse. 

100-year-old building partially collapses in Malone

By: Rachael Paradis

A building in Malone that has been standing for more than a century will no longer be a sight in the town. The building on Route 11, well known to many in the community, collapsed overnight. While no one was injured, our Rachael Paradis tells us why the town is in a rush to tear it down.

MALONE, N.Y. -- Neighbors in Malone stood in surprise, took pictures and even shared stories of a once popular tavern that started to crumble early Monday morning.

County Legislator Billy Jones said, "It's an old structure, it was a structure that was obviously unsafe."

The tavern/hotel was built in the early 1900'. It has been closed to the public for about 15 years and was condemned six months ago.

Franklin County Emergency Services Director Rick Provost, "We're unsure what occurred last night at 3 a.m. What we do know is this building has been on our list of buildings with issues."

Jones said, "Old things fall down."

Police closed off part off Route 11 to traffic and to people, out of concern the rest of the building could fall down. Some in the community voiced concern over why this building, along with others like it in the area that haven't already been demolished. Officials say it comes down to money.

Provost said, "The high cost of abatement for these buildings really makes it tough for the county or the village to take those burdens on."

Jones, "We just have to come up with a plan to start taking some of these building down so we don't run into this problem going forward."

The demolition is only expected to take hours, but cleaning up the area is a different issue. Officials say it could be weeks before the site is completely cleared.

http://centralny.ynn.com/content/top_stories/551123/100-year-old-bu...

 

 LAKE ELSINORE: Water leak causes street collapse

 

10:00 PM PDT on Friday, July 22, 2011

By GENE GHIOTTO
The Press-Enterprise

Temporary repairs to a section of Joy Street in Lake Elsinore are in place today after a 1-inch water line gave way, causing 80 feet of the roadway to collapse and the asphalt to buckle.

The leak, caused by a 6 to 8-inch diameter tree root, was reported late Thursday in a line that leads to several duplexes on Joy between Machado Street and Riverside Drive, and behind Machado Elementary School.

Water service was restored to the 34 customers early Friday morning, said Greg Morrison, spokesman for the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District.

Water district and contractor crews spent much of Friday removing the damaged asphalt on the southbound side of Joy and laying down a temporary patch. The road was opened in both directions by late afternoon.

"That way the road will be open completely for the entire weekend," Morrison said.

Crews will return Monday and trench from curb to curb to permanently repair the 1-inch line.

On Tuesday, a paving company will remove the patch, put down new base and repave one side of Joy, Morrison said. Work on the other side will take place on Wednesday.

"That way on Tuesday and Wednesday we'll be able to keep on

 

http://www.pe.com/localnews/stories/PE_News_Local_D_spipe23.38e27e6...

Windhorst, Parsons Roadway Collapse: Cautious Testing Continues

County workers are testing for sinkholes but the work is proceeding methodically because of utility lines at the intersection, according to a Hillsborough County spokesman.

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.

http://brandon.patch.com/articles/windhorst-parsons-roadway-collaps...

Sewer collapse closes part of Lexington Road

At least one eastbound lane of Road near Etley Avenue and Cave Hill Cemetery will be closed during Thursday morning’s rush hour after a 48-inch brick sewer collapsed Wednesday evening.

Crews noticed a depression in the road before discovering the sewer had collapsed, and the area will be excavated Thursday morning, said Metropolitan Sewer District Executive   Bud Schardein.

He said it was too early to tell what caused the collapse, but age was a likely factor. That part of the sewer was built in the 1880s and could have been weakened from an unusually wet spring.

“With all the wet weather we’ve had this past spring, that has a tendency to undermine the mortar,” Schardein said.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20110720/NEWS01/307200099/Se...

 

Road collapse might have killed Colorado family

Rebecca Martinez (2011-07-20)

CARBON COUNTY (wpr) - Engineers say a large section of Wyoming highway where four Colorado family members plunged to their deaths might have totally collapsed in a matter of minutes.

It had been raining for hours Monday night when local authorities warned the Constantinides family, among others, about potential flood conditions near North Brush Creek Campground around midnight.

Not long afterward, the family's van drove into a washed-out portion of Wyoming highway 130 and was swept about 75 yards down Brush Creek. Laurel Constantindies and her three daughters died.

The husband and father, Alex Constantindies, who had grown up in Laramie, survived and escape the vehicle. He and a passerby later rescued Carbon County Emergency management Coordinator John Ziegler, whose car washed out while he was trying to assist in flood protection efforts.

Ziegler said he was "very fortunate" to have survived.

Bruce Burrows of the Wyoming Transportation Department says engineers are studying what happened to the roadway early Tuesday morning. He says preliminary assessments indicate the creek swollen with rain and snowmelt may have undermined the roadway over some hours and then gouged a 25-foot-wide, 9-foot-deep hole in a matter of minutes.

http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wpr/news.newsmain/article/1/0/183...

Yunnan road test the opening day collapse resulting in four deaths and injuries

8, Yunnan” in the history of the most short-lived highway “a serious collapse destroyed sections of the site. After investigation, the highway there in time duration and other issues. Xinhua News Agency reporters Chen Hai and Ning She

Recently, Yunnan Province, Internet users post, said the new Xinping county secondary road test three estuary opening day collapse occurs, resulting in 2 dead 2 injured. Internet users have questioned this “the most short-lived highway” Why just fix it collapsed, was “too much rain” or “bad way”?

After the incident, Yunnan Provincial Department and the Transportation Department were dispatched to investigate a group of experts, the group that really belongs to all “natural disasters caused by heavy rainfall.”

collapse of the vehicle crash on

recently, Internet users “pass,” said Post, June 27, Xinping County of Yuxi City, three city secondary road test the opening of the estuary collapse occurred the next day, resulting in a vehicle passing through here turn under the cliff, killing two people died inside the car and two others injured, highway interrupted. For the cause of the accident, the local government is a single point of heavy rain caused by a natural disaster.

7 8, correspondent along the new road to the scene three, the road there are construction workers on the highway guardrail, drainage and other construction, from time to time some sections of earth and rock rolled down from the hills.

close to the scene of the accident, the construction set up roadblocks on the road side. In the new three road K25 +450 to K26 +480 road, the reporter saw a total of three road damage, including two collapsed, a surface crack. Road accident at the hillside, two-way four-lane have collapsed, a lot of rocks, soil and concrete was rushed into the street of the valley.

“red water collapsed roadbed”

Zhang Xinping County Department of Transportation Secretary BU has introduced three new roads through villages and towns in Xinping County 8 19 village committees, with a total mileage of 90 kilometers . Road along the fragile geology, disasters, floods and geological disasters have been more serious.

accidents mainly due to heavy rains led to a single point of soft roadbed, road ditches and culverts to be above the blockage, and finally the formation of water as a waterfall of impact, resulting in collapse of highway roadbed.

Bu there are rules that highway design, construction and supervision units are selected strictly in accordance with the bidding system, procedural compliance and found no serious design flaws, quality of construction or supervision of omissions.

collapse occurred Sections of the construction unit project manager Jiangzu Long introduction, the unit will subcontract work to the successful construction services company, the project head of engineering equipment and materials, and is responsible for management and technical guidance, service company only the labor force, which is not labor sub-subcontract, the state permitted by law.

he said, in strict accordance with design drawings for construction, engineering, quality is no problem, Lu Jisong soft infiltration and erosion is mainly caused by the floods.

no quality problems, experts say

afterwards, Yunnan Provincial Department and the Transportation Department were sent experts to the scene. The Group believes that: section of the incident transverse slope steep terrain, poor geological conditions, heavy rainfall increased the hydrostatic pressure, the formation of collapse, is a heavy rainfall-induced natural disasters.

Yunnan Provincial Communications Department who participated in the survey, experts say, from the survey of the situation, roadbed, retaining wall strength and so meet the requirements and found no quality problems.

subsidy investigation in time duration for the fight

accused of the most short-lived road not approved the first building, not the acceptance that the opening test

Reporter learned that the investigation, three new road opened in October 2009 to build, and design in May 2010 before the Provincial Communications Department has been approved, there is “not approved prior to construction” and “time duration” issue. Not hand over the road in case of acceptance of test traffic violations, and plans to be held on 30 June the opening ceremony, canceled after the accident.

construction personnel, three new road along the geological environment is complex, time is short, heavy task in building a post, Xinping shouted “make a big quick-drying 60 days,” the slogan of the progress of the projects Forced , post workers overtime work.

what makes engineering so catch it? Reporters learned that, in addition to travel to meet the requirements of the masses, more important reason is that for national road toll for the abolition of two grants. According to the policy, the new secondary roads shall be June 30 this year, opened to traffic, or can not enjoy the state’s two highway toll abolition of subsidies.

http://www.cnkeyword.info/yunnan-road-test-the-opening-day-collapse...

Details Emerge in Deadly Road Collapse

Cheyenne : WY : USA | Jul 20, 2011

 

Engineers say a large section of Wyoming highway where four Colorado family members plunged to their deaths may have totally collapsed in a matter of minutes. Bruce Burrows of the Wyoming Transportation Department says engineers are studying what happened to state Route 130 over South Brush Creek... FULL ARTICLE AT KSAZ

http://www.allvoices.com/news/9730810-details-emerge-in-deadly-road...

 

 

[SongStar101]

Two people killed after crane collapses in Singapore

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Scores Feared Trapped in Collapse of Mumbai Building - India, September 27

Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Residential Building Collapses in Mumbai: The scene Friday was a chaotic pile of broken steel and concrete rubble, with more than two dozen fire trucks and at least 15 ambulances on the streets.

MUMBAI, India — Scores of people were feared trapped or dead after a five-story residential building collapsed early Friday morning, the fifth deadly collapse this year in and around Mumbai, a city with crumbling housing infrastructure and poor building standards. At least 11 people were confirmed dead.

The authorities said it was too early to determine the exact cause of the collapse or the number of people trapped or dead inside the structure, the Babu Genu Market building. Onlookers said the building had more than 100 residents, nearly all of whom were probably home when the structure fell. The building was about 30 years old, officials said.

The scene Friday was a chaotic pile of broken steel and concrete rubble, with more than two dozen fire trucks and at least 15 ambulances on the streets.

“The building collapsed suddenly at 6 a.m. this morning,” said Tanaji Ghodge, a deputy police commissioner. “We don’t know how many people will come out of the rubble yet. The rescue operation is going on in full force.”

Babu Gupta, a sound engineer who lives next door, said the building had about 24 occupied one-room apartments, each with four to eight residents, underscoring the dangerous overcrowding in many buildings in Mumbai.

“There were many people in that building whom I was friends with,” Mr. Gupta said. “We often played cricket together on this street. There is Parmar, there is Jadhav, there are so many others. There must be at least 15 of my friends in that building. There is no news of them yet.”

Murli Khadpekar, a neighbor, said he heard a “loud bang” at 5:53 a.m. and came running out to see that the building’s huge rooftop water tank had come crashing down, and that the building had collapsed. The building was mostly occupied by city trash collectors and laborers, he said.

Hundreds of police officers, firefighters, dockyard workers and neighbors crowded around the site of the collapse Friday in the kind of chaotic scramble that is routine after such disasters in India. Police officials tried to clear the area of bystanders. Neighbors watched from balconies and terraces overlooking the spot of the collapse.

Dr. Habbu Jadav, the superintendent of a nearby hospital, said that 25 people had been brought in with injuries as of 8 p.m. Friday and that there were 11 deaths. Family members surrounded hospital officials asking if their relatives were among the dead or injured. Among them was Akhilesh Shinghade, a Mumbai city official who was pacing the hospital waiting area hoping for news of his wife, who is eight months pregnant and had been staying in the collapsed building with her parents.

He said there had been five people in the house: his wife, Namita, and her grandmother, parents and sister. “None of them have been found as yet,” he said.

Deepteesh Kadam, 16, was admitted to the hospital with a fractured left clavicle after he shimmied out of the building through a small gap. He had been sleeping in his family’s third-floor apartment when the building fell.

“I got out, but I could not find my brother,” he said.

In April, an illegally constructed building in a Mumbai suburb collapsed and killed 74 people, the deadliest such episode in decades. Two more episodes followed in June, killing 19 people together. In July, the Bhiwandi garment factory collapsed, killing six people. Other collapses in India have included a hospital in Bhopal in April.

The collapses highlight problems with India’s housing stock and construction standards. Many of the structures that dot Mumbai’s skyline are crumbling and date from the country’s independence in 1947, when they were hurriedly built as part of the city’s emergence as a commercial hub.

Mumbai’s buildings department is known for its corruption, and bribing inspectors and other government officials is considered part of the normal cost of doing business. One result is that many buildings are visibly crumbling. Another problem is rent-control rules that allow tenants to live in apartments for a few dollars a month and even pass those rights on to their descendants, giving landlords little incentive to invest in building maintenance. The city requires extensive approvals for even minor repairs, a process so cumbersome that repairs are often either delayed or done illegally and without consultation from engineers.

India is one of the only countries in the world where buildings as tall as six stories are constructed using a small-batch process of mixing concrete by hand, rather than having trucks deliver premixed concrete. The quality of the concrete can vary considerably with hand-mixing, while premixed concrete is of more uniform quality.

In most of the world, structures more than two stories high require premixed concrete not only because of government rules but also because few other places can find workers willing to carry loads of concrete by hand up more than one or two flights of stairs. In India and Bangladesh, workers routinely carry such loads up five or more flights.

Sheetal Shinde stood at a nearby tea stall with tears in her eyes looking at the rescue operation. “There are five of my relatives in that building,” she said. “They are still trapped inside.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/28/world/asia/scores-feared-trapped-...

photo link to Mumbai building collapse.  http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/27/20720293-survivors-pu...

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/09/27/india-building-...

Dozens feared trapped in the rubble of the five-story building.

MUMBAI, India (AP) — Rescuers pulled a small girl alive from a collapsed apartment building in India's financial capital nearly 12 hours after the structure caved in Friday, killing at least eight people and leaving dozens trapped under the rubble.

A cheer erupted from hundreds of onlookers who began chanting "baby, baby" when rescuers working in a drizzling rain plucked the young girl out of a tunnel dug through the rubble. At least 32 people were rescued, but more than 30 others were still missing and the search continued, said Alok Awasthi, local commander of the National Disaster Response Force.

Friday's disaster was the third deadly building collapse in six months in Mumbai, in a country where shoddy construction and lax inspections make such disasters all too common.

Relatives of the missing wailed and clung to one another, as heavy machinery lifted the largest slabs of concrete away. Dozens of workers hacked away with crowbars at the flattened remains of what was once a five-story building.

Eight people were confirmed dead by late afternoon, Awasthi said.

"We will work all night. We'll work 24/7 without stopping until everyone is found," he said, adding that additional rescue teams from the nearby city of Pune had been called in to assist.

The building collapsed just after 6 a.m. near Dockyard Road in Mumbai's southeast.

Awasthi said it was owned by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corp., the city's municipal government, and that most of the people who lived in its 22 apartments were city employees.

Mumbai has already seen two similar disasters this year.

At least 72 people died in April when an illegally constructed building fell down, and in June, at least 10 people, including five children, died when a three-story building collapsed.

Across India, buildings falling down have become relatively common. Massive demand for housing around India's fast-growing cities combined with pervasive corruption often result in contractors cutting corners by using substandard materials or adding unauthorized floors.

[Derrick Johnson]

Watch out for the dip in the road! Massive 33-year-old interstate bridge is closed after it starts SAGGING in the middle

• 400-foot section of Wisconsin bridge suddenly sags
• State officials close the bridge before anyone gets hurt
• The bridge isn't in danger of collapse, state officials say

A 400-foot section of a bridge in Wisconsin has been closed after a motorist noticed the bridge was beginning to sag.

The Leo Frigo Bridge suddenly began to dip forcing police to close off the span that carries Interstate 43 over the Fox River some 120 feet below.

‘There's a part that's sagging,’ a driver told a 911 operator.

‘A part that's sagging?’ the operator asked.

‘Instead of a bump, it's a dip,’ the driver said.

‘It's a big hassle, because of all the construction that's going around town,’ said Dennis Kelln of Green Bay. ‘The downtown bridge was closed for how long? Now this one is out? It's just like it's a never-ending problem here.’

Governor Scott Walker spoke on the closure Wednesday afternoon during a press conference.

'It's a key transportation link in the area,' Walker said. 'Our #1 priority is and will continue to be ensuring the absolute safety of the public.'

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation has set up detours in the meantime.

The DOT doesn't have a timeline or a price tag on fixing the bridge just yet.

Governor Walker promised repairs will happen, whatever the cost.

'Once we know the full details of what's required to fix this bridge, we will fix this bridge,' the governor said, 'because it's not only important to Brown County, it's also important to the State of Wisconsin.'

Governor Walker said the Interstate-43 bridge over the Fox River is 'vitally important' to commerce in Northeast Wisconsin and Michigan but that the safety of people who would be on or around the bridge will be the primary factor in determining how long the bridge will be closed.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2433876/Wisconsin-Leo-Frigo...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

Two buildings in Lagos collapsed today

Another link: http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/09/26/2-buildings-collapse-in-lagos/

2 Buildings Collapse In Lagos  

Published on September 26, 2013 by pmnews   ·   1 Comment

Two persons have died and 10 others injured as two buildings collapsed on Lagos Island, southwest Nigeria, on Wednesday night.

A three-storey building at 15, Alli Street, collapsed at about  11.00 pm and fell on a bungalow at  number 13 of the same street, leading to its collapse.

The cause of the collapse was not  immediately ascertained but it is suspected that the three-storey building may be distressed as hundreds of distressed buildings have been uncovered on Lagos Island.

It was gathered that rescue operation was carried out by combined team of government officials, youths and members of the Community Development Association in the area.

•Scene of two buildings that collapsed last night on Lagos Island. PHOTO: Ayo Efunla

Officials of the Lagos State Emergency Management Agency, LASEMA and the Lagos State Fire Service were on ground for the rescue operation which continued till Thursday morning.

General Manager, LASEMA, Dr. Femi Oke-Osanyintolu told P.M.NEWS that  two persons died in the collapsed buildings, saying that the three-storey building caved in between 10 and 11 p.m. last night.

“The building collapsed on top of a bungalow next to it. Emergency response was activated with all stakeholders on ground. 10 people were evacuated and taken to the General Hospital and Massey Hospital.

“Two dead bodies were recovered and have been deposited in the morgue as emergency response is still ongoing,” he stated.

Oke-Osanyintolu added that investigation was ongoing to ascertain the cause of the collapse.

According to him, LASEMA rescue team had reached the ground floor as nobody was still strapped in the rubble.

“We will carry out our investigation to ascertain the cause of the collapse. The commissioners for Physical Planning and Urban Development and Special Duties are on ground. We have cordoned off the area,” he said.

In the last nine months, over 10 buildings have collapsed in Lagos, with Lagos Island topping the list of collapsed buildings.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://dailypost.com.ng/2013/09/26/lasema-confirms-three-persons-de...

LASEMA confirms three persons dead, 10 injured after building collapses in Lagos

By Daily Post Staff on September 26, 2013

The Lagos State Emergency Management Agency (LASEMA) on Thursday confirmed that three persons died on Wednesday night following the collapse of two residential buildings on Lagos Island.

The LASEMA General Manager, Mr Femi Oke-Osanyintolu, told newsmen in Ikeja that 10 persons were also injured in the incident which occurred at about 11.30 p.m.

Oke-Osanyintolu said the incident occurred when a three-storey building located on Alli Street, Lagos Island, collapsed on a bungalow beside it.

He said his men with other emergency response officials had to dig into the rubble to remove the dead victims and the injured.

According to him, the injured are being treated at an undisclosed public hospital while the remains of the dead victims have been deposited at the hospital morgue.

Oke-Osanyintolu, who said the cause of the collapse had not been ascertained, noted that a number of distressed buildings had been identified in the area.

“We will carry out investigation to ascertain the cause of the incident. Commissioners and emergency officials were on ground early today to really find out what happened.

“We are studying the situation, and we will definitely unravel the cause,’’ he said.

He said no fewer than 10 cases of building collapse had been recorded on the Island this year alone.

The general manager urged residents to subject their buildings to structural testing by the appropriate government agency to help address the problem.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Gov. Babatunde Fashola, had on May 19, inaugurated a Tribunal of Enquiry on Building Collapse in the state, with the mandate to ascertain the causes of the menace and make recommendations.

The six-man committee, which has since commenced work, is yet to submit its reports to the state government. (NAN)

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://theadvocate.com/home/7156582-125/storage-dome-collapses-at-n...

Storage dome collapses at Nucor; no explosion, injuries

September 25, 2013

CONVENT — One of three iron ore storage domes at the Nucor Corp. plant in St. James Parish suffered a structural failure and collapsed Wednesday, just weeks before the plant was to start production after more than two years of construction.

The collapsed beige dome, which looked like a deflated balloon Wednesday afternoon at Nucor’s site along the Mississippi River, did not result in fires, explosions, release of hazardous materials or injuries, authorities said.

Company officials are investigating the cause of the collapse of the storage dome, which is at Nucor’s direct reduced iron plant, according to Katherine Miller, spokeswoman for the Charlotte, N.C., company.

The $750 million plant will use natural gas to convert iron ore pellets into direct reduced iron once in production.

DRI is a basic building block used in Nucor’s electric arc furnaces to make steel, according to state air permit requests.

“The impact the collapse of the storage dome may have on the startup date for the DRI plant will not be known until the extent of the damage can be assessed,” she said in a statement.

The reduced iron plant is the first of several phases in a planned $3.4 billion steel complex that would employ 1,250 people.

Three iron ore storage domes sit in a row on Nucor’s 4,000-acre site. A conveyor system is connected to the tops of each dome. The part of the conveyor over the deflated dome was bent Wednesday, creating a kink in the connection between the other two domes and parts of the plant closer to the river.

The iron ore is delivered by ship and unloaded with a conveyor system, air permit requests say.

Before the collapse Wednesday, the DRI plant was undergoing “hot commissioning,” which is a series of trial runs ahead of the planned startup, company officials have said.

Plant manager Lester Hart said construction and hot commissioning continues despite the collapse.

“We are still continuing the construction, but we just don’t know if or what impact this will have on our startup,” he said.

He said it was too soon to say what effect the damaged conveyor system might have on plant operations.

St. James Parish officials said in a statement they received a 911 call of “an explosion” at the plant at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday.

Firefighters from Paulina and Convent and other emergency response agencies rushed to the scene but were recalled once officials realized a structural failure had occurred, according to Eric Deroche, parish director of homeland security and emergency preparedness.

The domes are made of concrete but have a fabric skin and contain iron ore, which is not a hazardous material, he said.

Workers could be seen leaving the plant Wednesday afternoon as emergency vehicles and fire trucks drove off after getting an all clear signal.

St. James Parish Sheriff Willy Martin speculated the collapse may have sounded like an explosion, leading to the initial 911 call and early news accounts of an explosion.

Some residents living near the plant along River Road said they were not aware of the problems at the plant Wednesday and had not heard anything.

Once in full operation, the DRI plant will produce 2.5 million tons of direct reduced iron per year, making it the largest DRI plant of its kind in the world and the first operating in the nation in several years.

Low natural gas prices played a role in Nucor’s use of DRI technology.

The DRI plant, which officials broke ground on in early March 2011, is the first of five phases that Nucor may build to create a $3.4 billion integrated steel mill in Convent.

Nucor officials had said Wednesday, before the collapse, that after startup in “the next few weeks,” production would ramp up during the fourth quarter of 2013 and that the DRI plant would be fully operational by the start of the year.

The company has already hired 140 people to work in the DRI plant and aimed to reach its planned 150-employee mark a year ahead of a 2015 goal, company officials said.

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.myfoxphilly.com/story/23530908/building-partially-collap...

Building Partially Collapses In South Philly

Posted: Sep 25, 2013 5:19 PM CDTUpdated: Sep 25, 2013 5:22 PM CDT

 

 

SkyFOX went over a developing story in South Philadelphia.

That's where crews are hard at work after the partial collapse of this building on 1900 Morris St.

The incident happened around 5:12pm Wednesday.

There have been no reports of serious injury, but part of the building was occupied

[Starr DiGiacomo]

MRT tunnel intact despite road collapse in Chinatown

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/MRT-tunnel-intact-despite-...

KANATHIT SRIHIRUNDEJ
THE NATION September 26, 2013 1:00 am

THE UNDERGROUND tunnel for the MRT's Blue Line extension remains intact even though a part of the road collapsed in Bangkok's Chinatown area, Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt said yesterday.

At about 2am yesterday, a bit of the road surface on Charoenkrung Road in front of the Leng Noei Yi Temple (Wat Mangkorn Kammalawat) subsided, leaving a crater at the construction site of the MRT Blue Line's extension route. 

"The crater was about 25 centimetres deep initially, but I ordered workers to dig deeper to find out what caused the collapse," construction supervisor Kamol Mahaphon said. 

After digging further, his team found that huge water leaks had weakened the area. 

"Hence, we have contacted relevant officials, including the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority," Kamol said. 

Meanwhile, Chadchart said the MRT tunnel, which is still being constructed, is about 25 metres deep and remains intact. "The tunnel has not been damaged in any way," he reiterated. 

Pisitchanon Niwattanakul, a member of the Leng Noei Yi Temple's board, said the road-surface collapse did not affect the monastery. 

"The temple is alright with the construction of the MRT extension because it is beneficial to the public," he said. 

[Howard]

Another Building Collapses in Mumbai, India (Sept 21)
A five-storey residential building housing 42 families collapsed in Mumbra town in Maharashtra Saturday morning.

The building, Banoo Apartments, opposite the busy railway station, was 15-years old. Over 100 people managed to escape before it crashed, said a police official in Mumbra, around 30 km from Mumbai.

An hour before it collapsed, there were indications of the impending disaster as the building started shaking and wobbling.

A majority of the panicky residents chose to evacuate and moved to safety. At least three people are feared trapped under the debris and efforts are on to rescue them.

This is the sixth major building collapse in Mumbai and its neighbouring areas in the past six months. In April, a building collapsed in Lucky Compound in Mumbra, killing 75, and making it the worst such disaster in the state's history. In June, four more buildings crashed in Mahim (10 dead), Mumbra (10 dead), Dahisar (seven dead) and Bhiwandi (three dead).

Sources

http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a407668.html

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/1891851/report-second-building-collap...

[Starr DiGiacomo]

http://www.krem.com/news/Library-ceiling-collapses--222696131.html

Another Washington state building collapses, 2 in 1 day

Rain likely causes ceiling collapses at Sprague, Washington Lind Elementary

The owner of the building in Sprague said one of the walls of the structure appeared to be bulging outward days before the roof caved in Friday.

Crews had two big messes to clean up Friday after ceilings collapsed at Lind Elementary School and at a building in Sprague, Washington.

School district officials said part of the ceiling over the Lind Elementary library collapsed Thursday evening after rain caused a drain pipe to break.  Lind School District Superintendent Robert Roettger said the drain flowed over the library.

A restoration crew has been hard at work in the library at the elementary school.

"Six o'clock this morning I got a call from the custodian saying we had a leak in the library but it was worse than he had ever seen before,' said Roettger.

No injuries were reported.

School continued as normal for students.

Heavy rainfall was also suspected in the ceiling collapse in the town of Sprague.  No injuries were reported in that collapse.

The building's owner said one of the walls of the structure appeared to be bulging outward days before the roof caved in Friday.

The building was over 100 years old.

A man who lived in the building just recently moved out. His friend say he just finished moving out Thursday morning. 

"We were in there tow, three days ago and noticed the east wall was boed a little bit and pulled away from the center wall and we were just joking around, 'You got to get out of here. This things gonna come down,'" said Carl Parks whose friend lived in the building.