Gristedes on Broadway - 12 hours later

[taylweaver]

As many of you already know, a building on Broadway that was being demolished - formerly a Gristedes - collapsed yesterday morning. For those of you reading this from out of town, this building is in my neighborhood, about a ten minute walk from me - a block from mysticengineer's apartment building.

I heard amazing stories yesterday from a friend, OA, who was less than a block away when it happened. He was one of the first people on the scene, clearing a way rubble. He helped to rescue the five trapped people. In a time when we keep hearing about terror attacks, it is so strange to consider the damage that can be done by an accident or a mistake. It is so amazing that there was no loss of either life or limb. It seems, from what I have heard, that everyone will make a full recovery - at least in body. I can't imagine how scary it must have been for the people trapped under there.

What also amazed me was how quickly life returns to normal. The collapse happened at approximately 9:30 am. When I walked to OA and his wife's apartment to do some envelope labelling for a shul mailing, I saw the wreckage from the other side of the street - a pile of wood and beams, strewn in a haphazard pile in the lot and on the sidewalk. I could see a man standing on top of what was left of the scaffolding, taking it apart. By the time I left mysticengineer's apartment at 10:00 (I visited on the way home because it was on the way home), the sidewalk was open, and what was left of the debris was behind one of those blue wooden walls that they erect at construction sites. The only evidence that anything had happened was the dirt/dust that covered the sidewalk, and the bright light that had been set up to shine in on the site - oh, and a helicopter circling above. The collapse happened, people were rescued, and within twelve hours, Broadway was pretty much back to normal. That impressed me.

Comments

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

That was pretty much what happened in London. There were bombs, the tube got shut, etc... but in forty-eight hours everything was ordinary except the security cordons.

[taylweaver.livejournal.com]

Well, except for two big differences - this was an accident, and no one died. (which, all things considered, was pretty impressive.