Cars destroyed by falling debris as another building collapses in New York City

Buildings continue to collapse like card castles in New York City. The facade of a building located at 204 Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg came crashing down on the sidewalk yesterday afternoon around 12;45 pm. Luckily nobody was injured in the collapse as the building was vacant at the time of the accident and nobody was in the street because of the heavy rain caused by the tropical Storm Isaias. There was only damage to the cars parked in the vicinity of the building as falling debris poured onto the street. Residents of adjacent buildings were evacuated. The DOB issued a fully vacate order to the building located next door at 206 Bedford Avenue while inspectors are still figuring out the causes of the partial structural building collapse.

The building that collapsed had not logged any complaints since 2003 when a complaint for loud noise related to illegal construction after hours was filed. 2 violations were opened by the DOB after the collapse for “structure rendered non-compliant after front facade and 3rd floor collapsed”.

The Brooklyn building collapse followed a series of other building collapses in New York City:

On July 23rd a man suffered a skull fracture after a facade partially collapsed and debris fell on him (see previous blog)
On July 16th a building partially collapsed in Murray Hill (see previous blog)
On July 8 a limo driver sitting in his car was injured by debris caused by a partial facade collapse in Murray Hill again (see previous blog)
A week before a building hosting a gym collapsed in Brooklyn almost killing an employee (see previous blog)

In a little bit than a month, 5 buildings collapsed in New York City. Many of them were empty buildings undergoing renovation or sometimes illegal construction. It is a miracle that nobody was killed and that so few people were injured in these dramatic accidents.

Picture of the building collapse location: courtesy of Google Map