Hurricane Milton forces St. Petersburg crane collapse, leaving a ‘gaping hole’ in building
Crane tumbles from 515-foot-tall downtown residential building under construction in St. Petersburg, Florida
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Powerful winds from Hurricane Milton have forced part of a construction crane to collapse in downtown St. Petersburg, leaving what is described as a "gaping hole" in an office building.
The crane tumbled overnight from 400 Central Avenue, according to Fox13 Tampa Bay. The 515-foot-tall luxury condominium high-rise will be "one of the tallest residential buildings on the west coast of Florida" upon its completion in summer 2025, its website says.
There were no reports of injuries from the collapse, but the Tampa Bay Times says the crane left a "gaping hole" in an office building that houses its headquarters, which had been evacuated in advance of Hurricane Milton’s arrival on Wednesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}St. Petersburg City Building Official Don Tyre said Thursday that a "wind gust" took out a section of the crane and now it's "kind of wedged into" the building that it fell into.
A construction crane fell over into an office building that houses the Tampa Bay Times headquarters, on Thursday, Oct. 10. (Tampa Bay Times via AP)
"It's somewhat secure right now, but the winds still are gusting, you know, 40 to 50 miles an hour. They're going to need a portable crane to remove that section, and then they will torch the remaining section and cut it off to clear the road," he said. "That's probably going to be a few days process to get mobilized and to complete that work."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A video taken at the scene showed one part of the crane resting against the office building while another part blocked off a street.
Debris is strewn on a street following the collapse of a crane during heavy rainfall and strong winds caused by Hurricane Milton, in St. Petersburg, Florida. (Mike's Weather Page/Reuters)
"It was a devastating thing when it fell. But with a failure like that, it's probably the best case scenario," Tyre said. "If it would have pulled the entire tower off, it would have probably fallen about 6 or 700 feet away and probably impacted a number of different buildings."
"It's really just a devastating event that that happened due to the wind speed from the storm. One hundred mile an hour wind speed is basically not heard of in recent history in this area," Tyre added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A crane sits on the street after crashing down in St. Petersburg, Fla. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Prior to the collapse, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch expressed concerns about the cranes and how they would fare during Milton, Fox13 Tampa Bay reports.
ROOF OF TROPICANA FIELD RIPPED OPEN BY HURRICANE MILTON
The website says the mayor noted how it takes about a week of planning to remove and disassemble the cranes because of their fixed location.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The hurricane also ripped the roof off Tropicana Field – the home of the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays – and dumped 18 inches of rain on the city Wednesday.