MIAMI_The boom of a crane at an under-construction apartment building in downtown Miami bent and collapsed in Hurricane Irma's heavy winds Sunday morning.
Hours later, the winds brought down a second crane at an apartment tower in Miami's Edgewater neighborhood, roughly two miles north.
No injuries were immediately reported. Downtown Miami, normally a bustling hub of tourists and office workers, and Edgewater, a popular residential neighborhood lined with condo towers, were empty because of the storm. Before Irma hit, the city warned residents who live near cranes that the storm could bring grave danger. There are more than 20 construction cranes up in the city.
Miami's economy is fueled by the development of luxury high-rises. But after the accident, Mayor Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said the city should consider stricter codes for cranes, even if it came at the expense of building projects.
"It's development in the future versus tropical storms or hurricanes," Regalado said. "We just can not gamble on the wind."
Two Miami firefighters watched the boom of the first crane snap, sending bricks toppling to the ground on Biscayne Boulevard, just down the street from Miami's Freedom Tower.
The apartment building, which has 464 rental apartments, is named Vice.
Its boom is still connected to the tower of the crane by a cable. On Sunday afternoon it was hanging partially over the building's side. People living nearby were urged by city officials to seek shelter in their own buildings away from the side facing the fallen crane, or in a stairwell.
"Tomorrow we'll assess the damage and try to get the engineering part of it corrected," said Miami's Deputy building Director Maurice Pons. "The general contractor has been contacted and he is setting up a team of wreckers to secure the tower."
John Moriarty & Associates of Florida is the contractor. An executive there did not return a request for comment.
Details were not immediately available on the accident at the second site.
The arms of construction cranes are designed to spin around in heavy winds. They can generally sustain winds up to 145 mph. Miami International Airport reported sustained winds of nearly 50 mph gusts above 70 mph Sunday morning.
After the first accident, city officials rushed up to the fourth floor of the city's police college, which houses Miami's emergency operations center, to observe the damage at Vice.
Regalado, Commissioner Francis Suarez and Pons then rode in an armored SWAT vehicle to the construction site. Regalado _ who is not an engineer _ said the crane does not appear to have caused any structural damage to the building's exterior.
But in a phone conference with city officials, Moriarty explained that the crane's counterweight had fallen through the interior of the construction site, piercing the building's upper plate.
Kevin Maloney, founder of Vice's New York-based developer, Property Markets Group, said his company was working to secure the boom.
"We're trying to find out what its potential path downward is and how to secure it," Maloney said by phone. The tower is more than 25 stories high and was set to be completed next fall.
Fire Chief Joseph Zahralban said the weather remains too dangerous to send crews out. "So our only concern right now is the protection of life, not necessarily property," he said. "We're going to take a look at all the exposures or buildings in close proximity. We're going to contact those buildings to make them aware of what occurred. We're not going evacuate them ... but we're going to move them to a safer location in the building."
On Wednesday, after a news conference, City Manager Daniel Alfonso said there's not much the city or contractors involved in the projects could have done before of the hurricane to take down cranes.
"It's not like you can call Pepito in Hialeah and he can come take it down. There are few companies that can do it," he said. "You have to call the company ahead of time. They have to come and prepare."
"It's an intense procedure and to take 25 cranes down in a matter of four or five days? It's not going to happen. It's not feasible."
His advice?
"Don't be next to a crane."
