Yesterday (May 28) evening, just before 5 p.m., a six-story apartment building partially collapsed in Davenport, Iowa. Since then, eight residents have been pulled out by rescue crews as teams work to determine if anyone else could still be stuck in the rubble.
Davenport Fire Chief Mike Carlsten believes “no known individuals are trapped in that facility,” according to CNN. For now, no fatalities have been reported, but rescue teams equipped with search dogs are on site. “The building is structurally unsound [and] is posing a risk to responders,” Carlsten shared with members of the press. Officials are still working to figure out if all of the apartment building’s residents have been accounted for and how many will now be displaced due to the collapse.
🚨#BREAKING: A Large apartment Building has partially collapses with reports of residents possibly trapped inside
⁰📌#Davenport | #Iowa⁰⁰Authorities are presently at the location of a building collapse in Davenport, Iowa after a significant apartment building has experienced… pic.twitter.com/WJmxFzxWXi— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) May 29, 2023
The Quad-City Times spoke with a resident named Robert Robinson, who lived on the building’s second floor. He’d just stepped outside for a smoke and was returning when the collapse happened. “When we started to go back in, the lights went out. All of a sudden, everybody started running out, saying the building collapsed. I’m glad we came down when we did,” Robinson told the newspaper. “This is horrible. We don’t have anywhere to go. Nothing to eat,” the Iowa tenant disclosed.
At a news conference, Mayor Mike Matson said, “This is an active scene. We will continue to work, continue to evaluate, with the whole purpose of trying to find people and trying to get them out.” Matson noted it “will be a lengthy process” to assess the situation. Adding to their list of concerns, Carlsten also told the press that the collapse caused “a large natural gas leak.” Anyone looking to locate family members can check in at a “patient care area” at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in Davenport, Iowa, at 417 N. Main St. Nearby buildings have been evacuated out of precaution as emergency responders continue their search.
Eight people have been rescued after a partial apartment building collapse in Davenport, Iowa on Sunday evening: “We are currently finishing the rescue phase of our operation and soon it will become a recovery operation.” https://t.co/3ozgnB0CRC pic.twitter.com/2PbdXxXFPE
— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) May 29, 2023