One person was found alive overnight at the site of a collapsed apartment building in Iowa, bringing the total number of people rescued to eight, as the frantic search for survivors continued Monday morning.
Officials have not released details on how many people were injured or how many are missing, but Davenport Chief Mike Carlsten said the rescue mission will soon turn into a recovery mission. No deaths have been reported.
Seven people were rescued from the building last night after part of it collapsed at about 5pm. About a dozen people were rescued from the collapse by air ambulance, officials said.
“No persons are known to be trapped in that facility,” Carlsten added, speaking of the building on Main Street in Davenport where the owners had been ordered to make upgrades.
“The building is structurally unsound, posing a risk to emergency responders,” Chief Carlsten said, adding that rescue teams with sniffer dogs are on the scene.
The search continued Monday for more survivors in a partially collapsed six-story apartment building in Davenport, Iowa — where the owners were under orders from the city to make upgrades
The building first opened in 1906 and was home to the Davenport Hotel, the premier lodging facility at the time
After the collapse of the back wall of the dilapidated building, a wardrobe and bedroom can be seen
It was revealed to CNN that tenants of the building had “filed numerous complaints with city officials” and that the city inspector came out several times. The owners had permits to make upgrades to the exterior of the building. But it’s still unclear what exactly led to the collapse.
Residents of the building had reportedly complained about repairs for years. City leaders said the building had permits to make the repairs when the collapse occurred.
Earlier, Carlsten said the rear of the apartment complex had collapsed and was separated from the building, which houses apartments on the top floors and businesses on the ground floor.
Authorities found a gas leak after the collapse, Carlsten said, while water had also leaked through the floors of the structure.
The stability of the building was still a concern.
Carlsten said officials were “currently finalizing the rescue phase of our operation and it will soon be a recovery operation.” The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.
Mayor Mike Matson gave an update on Monday about the building collapse in Davenport, Iowa
Seven people were rescued from the building last night after part of it collapsed at about 5pm. About a dozen people were helped on the spot with an air ambulance
Rich Oswald, director of development and community services for the city of Davenport, said Sunday that work was underway on the building’s exterior at the time of the collapse.
Reports of bricks falling from the building earlier this week were part of that work, and the building’s owner had a permit for the project, Oswald said.
They also said they were still trying to determine if there were any missing persons associated with the building. The mayor said some residents didn’t have cell phones or a second way to reach them.
There were 84 units in the building, a mix of residential and commercial spaces, the mayor said.
Nearly 20 permits were applied for in 2022 for building repairs, mostly for plumbing or electrical problems, according to the county appraiser’s office.
It remains unclear what caused the collapse, but firefighters found a ‘major natural gas leak’ at the scene and water was leaking from all floors
Tadd Machavec said he heard screams Sunday night as the building fell to the ground.
“There was a lot of screaming, a lot of crying, a lot of people saying ‘help’ when the building collapsed,” he told the Associated Press.
‘But it didn’t last—two or three minutes and then the whole room was silent.
“I hope and pray that the screams I heard were not people in it.”
It remains unclear what caused the collapse, but firefighters on the scene found a “major natural gas leak” and water was leaking from all floors.
Robert Robinson lived on the second floor of the complex and had just returned from an outdoor smoking break when part of the building collapsed.
“When we started to go back, the lights went out,” Robinson. “Suddenly everyone started running out saying the building was collapsing. I’m glad we came down when we did.”
Officials said missing but not how many as crews search rubble for missing tenants
Crews worked late into the night searching the rubble for survivors of the collapse
“Our big thing is the stability of the building. We’re not really sure how stable the building is,” Carlsten said on Sunday.
“Even when we were on site, multiple secondary debris droplets were emanating from that structure.
“We want to make sure all of our first responders can safely pass through,” he continued. “But we still want to get through it as quickly as possible.”
Mayor Mike Matson also pledged to focus on rescue efforts, though he reaffirmed that the apartment complex is still active.
“We’ll keep working, keep evaluating, with the goal of finding people and getting them out,” he said.
Several current and former tenants told Quad City Times that the building had problems in the past.
Provincial assessors’ records show that nearly 20 permits have been applied for by 2022 for the building, mostly for plumbing or electrical problems.
“Four months ago I got a call from the council that I had 48 hours to leave because the building was rejected because the bricks just fell off,” Todd Wilson told the outlet.
“What they did was they switched owners and gave them time to fix it, but they didn’t do it right.”
Jennifer Smith also said she never had heating or air conditioning.
“It sounds bad, but we’ve been calling the city since December and complaining. Our bathroom collapsed in December,” she said. “We call and report it and it’s always, ‘We’ll fix it, we’ll be there,’ and they won’t.”
She added that by January 14 units had been condemned “and they were in the back where it collapsed.”
Firefighters who arrived at the scene said they found a water leak and a gas leak, though it’s unclear if either of those leaks led to the collapse
Police blocked downtown roads around the Davenport apartment building
Many of those residents, Smith said, can’t afford to live anywhere else.
Davenport’s director of development and community services, Rich Oswald, said the building’s owners had permission to make reports to the exterior bricks before the collapse, according to KWQC.
There were reports earlier this week of bricks falling from the building, which was part of the work, he said.
The building first opened in 1906 and was home to the Davenport Hotel, the premier lodging facility at the time. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, which means the facade must be preserved.
The owner of the building, Andrew Wold, has not yet commented on the collapse.
Police and rescue teams remained on scene Sunday evening as they asked people to avoid the centre.
The American Red Cross is now helping tenants find lodging, and Davenport Mayor Matson said he is in contact with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds, who has “offered every assistance.”