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| Portion of Midtown parking deck collapses by Katie Leslie, Megan Mattcucci, Larry Hartstein |
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Firefighters have finished an initial search of the Midtown parking garage that partially collapsed and are reporting no injuries.
"We have no signs of victims, but we will take precautions and search the entire area," Atlanta Fire Department spokesman Bobby Stewart said around 3 p.m.
The middle section of the Centergy Parking garage, located at Abercrombie Place and Spring Street, collapsed from the fourth floor down at about 12:20 p.m., officials said. About 35 cars were damaged.
"There was a pancake effect all the way down to the ground floor," Stewart said.
The garage, about one block north of 5th Street, houses cars for several businesses, including L.A. Fitness, RBC Bank and Georgia Tech. It can hold 1,500 to 2,000 cars.
More than 50 firefighters were working to shore up the concrete structure. Once it is deemed safe, firefighters aided by police dogs will search all six floors and check every vehicle.
Stewart said he expects "a 24-hour operation" and that it could be two days before workers are allowed to retrieve their cars.
"It\'s very heavy concrete. There are a lot of cars that are entangled and broken up," Stewart said.
The overall structure is intact, as is the entrance to the deck where parking attendants work.
OSHA investigators are looking into the cause of the collapse.
Firefighters from Atlanta, Dekalb and Cobb counties are rotating shifts because of the heat. Employees from the Cheetah are handing out water and fruit to emergency crews, according to witnesses.
Officials made contact with Centergy and L.A. Fitness to make sure each employee and gym member was accounted for.
Georgia Tech spokesman Matt Nagel said the university was checking on all employees.
"At this time, it appears like there are no injuries... We haven\'t been notified of any at this point."
Shaun Dodson was sitting in his truck on the third floor of the parking deck eating lunch when he heard a loud noise.
"The whole deck started shaking and I just ran out," he said.
Chad Parker had just worked out at L.A. Fitness and was getting items from his car on the third floor when the building started to shake.
"It sounded like a big dumptruck was dumping a load full of rock," he said. "All this dust started falling and the parking attendant came running and told everyone to get out."
He could later see the front windshield of his Nissan intact, though he doesn\'t know about the rest of the vehicle.
Candice Crossfield, who works at Electric Cities of Georgia, entered the parking deck moments after the collapse unaware of what had just happened.
She walked up to her car on the fourth floor and that\'s when she saw a big, gaping hole.
"I said \'Oh My God,\'" she said. "It was an amazing sight."
She daringly walked up to the edge of the hole, near a car with two wheels dangling over the edge, snapped a photo with her cellphone and called her boss. Late for a lunch appointment, she drove out of the garage, exiting at street level on the third floor.
It was only then that she realized, "This whole thing could go down."
Tricia Baker was on her lunch break at a nearby restaurant when her boss called to check on her. She then remembered she had parked her BMW on the 4th floor of the deck, near the middle, she said.
"I\'m so glad I wasn\'t inside my car," she said.
At 2:05 p.m. Paul Freet, who works for Georgia Tech\'s VentureLab unit, tweeted: "Our group is now all accounted for. Whew!"
Earlier, Freet reported via Twitter that he believes his car is destroyed because he had parked very near the collapsed section.
Anita Bass, who works in the adjacent building at Interface Flor, said she didn\'t hear the collapse around the corner, but was alerted by emergency crews flooding the area.
She parked on the fifth floor.
"It is mind boggling," she said. "My mind is racing. Will it continue to fall?" |
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