Tragedy strikes NYC parking garages - 4 locations now partially shut down"

New York City building officials swept through dozens of parking garages following the fatal collapse of a structure in lower Manhattan and ordered four of them to close immediately due to structural flaws that "deteriorated to the point where they were now posing an immediate threat to public safety."

Two of the parking structures have lofts above them — a 25-story skyscraper in midtown Manhattan and an eight-story working in Chinatown — however authorities said the neighborhoods give off an impression of being in no peril.

City authorities coordinated the proprietors of the stopping offices to make quick fixes to eroded concrete and other harm.

On April 18, a three-story, stand-alone parking structure that was about a century old collapsed into shards of concrete and twisted metal, killing the manager. Soon after, inspections were started.

A spokesperson for the Department of Buildings, Andrew Rudansky, stated, "This work was done in the interest of public safety, and out of an abundance of caution." "During our scope of 78 stopping structures, we found four places where primary worries required region of the structures to be quickly emptied," he said.

The city started requiring owners to inspect parking structures at least once every six years last year. The first wave of garages, which span the lower Central Park area and the southern tip of Manhattan, have until the end of the year to complete their initial inspections. City officials stated that the required inspection of the collapsed structure had not yet been completed.

Although the reason for its collapse is still under investigation, the building had previously been cited for a number of structural flaws, including "spalling," or signs of corrosion in concrete. There were "cracks and defects" in the concrete when city inspectors cited the property owner two decades ago for failing to maintain the building properly. A later examination in fall 2013 showed no further underlying issues, building authorities said.

A few blocks from City Hall and the Brooklyn Bridge, the garage caved just as the first few customers started coming back after work.

People described the sound of the falling structure as a massive explosion and compared the experience to a violent earthquake as it shook nearby buildings and terrified them. The garage on Ann Street was owned by Enterprise Ann Parking, which said it would cooperate with the investigation.

Since then, inspectors have visited 17 of the same company's parking garages and 61 more buildings with parking garages that have open structural citations.

In the parking garages, they discovered four properties with structural damage that was so severe that the city issued evacuation orders for at least some of the structures.

Inspectors discovered concrete slabs "extensively corroded, with spalled concrete on the underside of two-floor slab ceilings" beneath the 25-story lower Manhattan building. Subsequently, the greater part of the carport is presently untouchable and its administrators requested to give safeguarded pathways in those spots. However, engineers tracked down compelling reason need to abandon any neighborhoods of the structure.

Essentially, building authorities said occupants could wait in a Chinatown apartment complex in spite of finding "various seriously decayed and rusted steel radiates, with over the top broke and spalling substantial docks."

The city of Brooklyn claimed that a two-story parking structure was in such poor condition that it ordered the structure's closure. Due to severely corroded beams and deteriorated vehicle ramps, another two-story building in the borough was partially closed.

Until the four buildings are fixed and pass inspection, they cannot reopen.

Officials indicated that additional enforcement actions may be forthcoming as parking garage inspections continue.

In the meantime, workers continue to remove the fallen structure's debris.

Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan District Attorney, had begun an investigation into the collapse.

An underlying examination by the structure division noticed that every one of the three stories of the carport to some degree or totally fell. The front facade of the garage bulged and the rear wall partially collapsed.