NEW YORK, April 19 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A parking garage collapsed in lower Manhattan’s Financial District, killing one worker, injuring five and crushing cars as concrete floors fell on top of each other like a stack of pancakes, officials said.
Bystander video showed cars hanging precariously from a buckled upper deck of the three-story building, and people nearby described a fearsome rumbling, followed by screams.
“It felt like an earthquake,” said Liam Gaeta, a student at nearby Pace University. Other students described seeing cars falling in the building.
Officials said one worker was trapped on an upper floor and rescued via a neighbouring roof.
The garage caved in around 4pm, a few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, and about 0.8km from the New York Stock Exchange.
The collapse left the building “completely unstable”, Mayor Eric Adams said at a news conference. Firefighters had to pull out because of the danger, conducting searches instead with a drone and a robotic dog, Fire Department Chief of Operations John Esposito said.
The building was “all the way pancaked, collapsed all the way to the cellar floor”, Acting Buildings Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik said.
It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the collapse. City Buildings Department records show the three-story structure has been a garage at least since the 1920s, and there are no recent permits for construction.– NNN-AGENCIES
