Saturday, November 23, 2024

Davenport building collapse: Remains of 3 people recovered from Iowa apartment building, police chief says



CNN

A week of agony has culminated for the families of three Iowa men who disappeared from a six-story Davenport apartment building. collapsed.

Amid the rubble, the remains of 60-year-old Daniel Brien were found early Monday, and the remains of 51-year-old Ryan Hitchcock were found Sunday, Davenport Police Chief Jeff Bladel said Monday. Two victims remain unaccounted for, a city official said earlier in the day.

The remains of Brandon Colvin Sr., 42, were found Saturday His son graduated on the same day From high school.

Bad finds mark the end of a dangerous search through the remains of a dangerous structure. Fire officials said the building shifted every time rescuers entered, and the still-standing section could crush them at any moment.

From Facebook/City of Davenport

From left: Brandon Colvin Sr., Ryan Hitchcock and Daniel Brien

The treacherous scene evoked memories of 2021 A condo building collapsed in SurfsideFlorida, that is 98 people were killedAs well as APRIL parking Garage with property violations It crashed in New York City, killing one person and injuring at least five others.

Crews in Iowa are focused on carefully removing debris from the site before it collapses, and more clues have emerged about problems with the building in the days leading up to the disaster.

About 10 minutes before the 324 Main St. section collapsed, a support brace buckled and parts of the brick facade collapsed around it, according to surveillance video taken from the roof of a nearby building and obtained by CNN. The video cut off as the building collapsed due to a power outage, the camera owner told CNN on condition of anonymity.

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Retrieved from CNN

A support brace bends as parts of the brick facade crumble, surveillance video obtained by CNN shows.

In the footage, five support braces lean against the wall, and one — closest to the camera — bends gradually.

The support braces identified match the instructions in the May 23 structural engineer’s report that stated braces should be placed to support and protect the brick facade. The report, released by the city of Davenport, was compiled by a private sector engineer while visiting the building with city inspectors this year.

About 2 minutes and 43 seconds before the collapse, a large brick fell from under the second-story window of the facade, the video shows.

Fifty-five seconds before the collapse, the lower part of the wall near the ground appears to collapse.

Forty-four seconds before the collapse, another small section of brick facade falls near another second-story window.

After about 10 seconds, a small dust cloud is seen from another small part of the facade falling from near the window.

About 25 seconds before collapsing, the support brace seen bending slowly through the video begins to bend very rapidly.

In the final 15 seconds before the collapse, several places on the wall are seen to be covered with dust and some additional small parts of the facade are falling.

A second before the video abruptly cuts off, the building can be seen collapsing.

A few days ago to a part of the apartment building CollapsedInspectors observed that a brick facade had separated from an interior wall and appeared “ready to collapse immediately,” according to an engineer’s letter.

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In the May 24 letter, the engineer says, “The brick facade is unlikely to be preserved, but it can be brought down in a safe, controlled manner.” An interior wall of a downtown Davenport building appears to be losing stability, “causing distortion,” the engineer says.

City of Davenport

An engineer reported that a brick facade had detached from the building’s inner wall days before the collapse.

A repair permit was issued the same day, according to Davenport city records. And on 25th May the site was visited and repair work started.

Then on May 27, a day before the collapse, a 911 caller told dispatchers that part of a wall in the building was “firing,” the Quad-City Times reported. reported On Friday, the paper obtained the 911 audio citation.

Collaborator Tony Behnke A non-profit It focuses on improving the city’s central business district, and released what he said he learned from one of his workers about the wall after calling 911 that afternoon.

“One of my boys is working. He was cleaning in the back parking lot and said the wall was spreading. It has been repaired,” Behnke said on the call. “Someone was working on it and told him to get out of the way because it wasn’t good.”

During the call, Behncke was told that someone would check the structure.

Behncke referred CNN to her employer, Kyle Carter, executive director of the Downtown Davenport Partnership, for comment. Carter confirmed the Quad-City Times’ report and had no comment.

Then on May 28, the same section of wall where repairs had begun days earlier suddenly collapsed, according to a CNN review of property photos released by the city.

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