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Subscribe to RSSPolice have evacuated the upper floors of buildings near a luxury high-rise on West 57th St. in New York City as damaged crane dangled precariously from what is slated to be Manhattan's tallest residential tower. NBC's Rehema Ellis reports.
Updated at 9:30 p.m. ET: Crews responded Monday to a crane hanging from the side of a luxury high-rise under construction in the heart of midtown Manhattan as New York began feeling the effects of approaching Superstorm Sandy.
Police have shut down traffic and evacuated the upper floors of buildings in the area around the building on West 57th Street, although there were no immediate plans to remove the crane because of the danger, WNBC reported. Officials were studying the situation and trying to decide how to deal with it.
The building, known as One 57, will be Manhattan's tallest residential tower when completed, at 90 stories. It already has gained a reputation as a new haven for billionaires who have been paying up to $90 million for choice apartments.
Passers-by stared in amazement and apprehension while some stopped to take pictures of the building.
"It's fascinating, I saw it on TV and came out to see it," Sam O' Keeffe, 25, a bartender who lives in the neighborhood, told Reuters. "But it's also scary. If it happened there, who knows where else it could happen?"
Firefighters closed streets for several blocks surrounding the site, evacuated 300 apartments in three buildings and were preparing to evacuate more.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the crane had been inspected on Friday, as other construction cranes had ahead of the storm, and that the cause of the accident remained unknown. Engineers went to the top of the building to examine the crane but stopped short of attempting any repairs, officials said.
"It's conceivable that nobody did anything wrong whatsoever and it wasn't even a malfunction, it was just a strange gust of wind," Bloomberg told a news conference.
"Just because it was inspected, that doesn't mean that God doesn't do things or that metal doesn't fail. There's no reason to think at this point in time that the inspection wasn't adequate," he said.
The crane swayed at the top of the building as the city was largely shut down ahead of the expected arrival of the massive hurricane slamming the East Coast and affecting up to 60 million people in nine states. The storm made landfall in New Jersey Monday evening.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Mother Nature can be a bish....
You know that the last operator to use that crane went home with that "I feel like I'm forgetting something..." feeling, and is now looking at this footage going "OH SH!T"
I haven't thought about it a lot, but my initial reaction is that, wuss that I am, I would prefer to not be in a crane atop a skyscraper during a hurricane. I know, just no sense of adventure.
Coney Island missed a huge opportunity here...RIDE THE HURRI-CRANE!!!
They should have braced that crane against the main structure of the building!
Spot welded against the iron in the Main bldg, and chained,
what a disaster, and the worst part is :
The Insurance company don't have to pay for the damaged equipment if it is an act of nature, reckless operation, or war.
On the positive side, it might fall on top of the office of the insurance company( Insuring the crane company), and hopefully on Wall Street in general.
It was a business decision. All thos e billionaires decided it was more profitable to take the risk than to spend the money to remove or secure it ahead of the storm.
It just needs a viagra pill and it will stand back up...
Erector Dysfunction
That type of failure just shouldn't happen in wind gusts of only 40 MPH. With no load, it should be able to withstand double that.
Hmm or do you think it was an overactive NY hooker giving it too good a blow j0b?
Hooker?!?!? Those apartments cost 90 million...it was a "callgirl"
Voter-in-LA,
Don't knock Viagra. I've reached the age where I take 1/2 a Viagra so I don't piss on my shoes :)
PhilCommander -
Why do you make up what other people may be thinking? How often do you think you're right? (I'll give you a hint - .001%)
Why thank you Spiffy! (uhmmm...I think...)
Maybe it is a up to date statue of Anthony "LIMP" Weiner
ED-2874315 I was at another web site the winds were 95 MPH when it went down
well after the storm they may not have to worry about it. Just a thought.
@Ed You are looking at ground wind speed. As you go up in height/elevation the wind speed goes up and up due to less friction and turbulence caused by uneven objects on the ground. Depending on if there are any other buildings near by that could have an effect on wind speed too. Force air to go through a small opening or two buildings and wind speed will pick up.
Yes they should have tried to tie, chain, weld it down, etc., but it is not like most people in NY have much experience with hurricanes or how to prepare for them. It would be like getting a blizzard in Florida :P.
It is ok that building qualifies for huge tax breaks and is why they are charging 90 mil for the apartments. The city of N.Y. gets less in revenue and it will add to the bill of the average person there. They can afford to buy a new crane no problem, as long as the construction company does not get hit with the bill/liability. Hopefully they wanted to take it down, but the owners of the building told them to leave it up due to the schedule/deadline.
Looks like "Wind- Bag Sandy" is giving the crane its expensive "blow-job" don't ya think?
Life can be a Biotch when you rich... bash a few of those apt.s in, will ya crane. That's what you get for trying to buy an election... lol
Sharktopussie wrote "Looks like "Wind- Bag Sandy" is giving the crane its expensive "blow-job" don't ya think?"
The crane doesn't seem impressed with Sandys skills...maybe it needs to close it's eyes and pretend it's Irene.
"Don't knock Viagra. I've reached the age where I take 1/2 a Viagra so I don't piss on my shoes :)"
I tried Viagra once. But I swallowed it too slow and all I got was a stiff neck.
Just quoting the article. I thought they would have an annomometer on top of 30 Rock, that they would consult before writing an article that hinges on wind speed.
It seams not a high rise construction worker among ya. For big winds the crane is allowed to rotate freely so it can flow with the wind. Locking down the rotation in high winds almost a guarantee the boom will break. These booms are not designed for sideways loading. I have never operated one but ran crews lifting weight in excess of 35 Thousand lbs. to upper floors of high rise buildings.
Apparently, being a billionaire carries no guarantee that your home will be assembled by people who are any smarter than the rest.
New york seems to have more cranes of this type fail than any other place on the planet, must be the inspectors are paid off.
NEW Video; seams the boom of the crane blew over backwards. Their is no protection form the boom going backwards. My questions are; is it company policy to park the boom in the full upright position in high winds and was the rotation locked down?
I was a tower crane operator for many years. This appears to be a luffing boom tower crane. I don't understand why the crane wasn't set to weathervane? From that very short video, it appears that the rotation was locked instead of set to weathervane. That makes no sense? It definitely wasn't in operation at the time, as tower cranes are supposed to be deactivated if the wind speeds exceed 30 mph. With the mess up there now, the crane cannot be "jumped" down. It looks like a crew will have to do the very dangerous job of risking their lives to go up there and torch the boom section to drop it to the ground in pieces. After that's done, a new boom somehow has to be pulled up and reconnected to the cab section. That boom section probably weighs 30,000 plus pounds! This has to be done in order to balance the entire crane "house" or the imbalance would cause the whole thing to fall over to the ground if any attempt was made to "jump" it to a higher or lower elevation. Why? Because in order to lower the crane on the supporting mast, the top section has to be disconnected, a section has to be pulled out and lowered to the ground. Can't do that without a boom. The boom, with the removed section suspended, is used to balance the crane on the mast. These guys definitely have a big, big problem to deal with. Good luck! Sure glad it isn't me that has to go up and do that job.
aim for Rudy's head
We can only hope...
Aim for Rudy, Donald Trump, and former GE head cutter Jack Welch.......the Sandy perfecta!
trifecta.
i'm no crane expert but we east coasters knew for at least 5 days where this storm was headed and that it was HUGE. they did not ask/suggest/force this crane to be partially broken down?
I guess the risk assessment analyst came to the conclusion on the damage it will create if it falls, or causes injury or death, is less costly than bringing it down......
All the important people are up and out of the way. As for the people down below..."FORGET ABOUT IT, THIS IS NEW YORK!!!"
The crane operator probably used to be a schoolbus driver in New Orleans and thought it was SOP to leave equipment behind to get damaged and replaced.
I admit I know nothing about construction, but seems to me that the smart thing to do would be to take the thing down to street level, and tie it down. Why would anyone leave a temporary structure up that high when a hurricane is coming?
Wakeup - my thoughts too. I've see similar cranes (freestanding tower cranes) take anywhere from a long 3 to 5+ days to setup/tear down depending on the configuration (not including getting the rigging set ect, just the structure of the crane). This crane being in the middle of the city would probably take that long if not longer and by the time it was clear Sandy was going to hit NY I don't think there was enough time to fully or even partially break it down safely.
However, I agree as to why the boom could not of been lowered and/or maybe rested on the building frame? I don't know if that would help but would seem to me leaving it raised up in the air like a flag pole wasn't exactly the best option either. I would say chain or weld to that frame you see in the picture but I suppose should the cab portion come down (it has the most wind resistance) at least that hopefully wouldn't risk pulling more of the unfinished building frame down with it. Whatever the case I would expect this to be up there for a couple more days minimum until Sandy blows thru. Of course that is unless it comes down on its own. They will have to likely get another crane or figure out a way to rig it up and lower to the ground with the existing structure. If it does come down it will do some damage but not like it would knock a building or anything down. Where is Superman when you need him?
You are right though, at the end of the day there was a cost decsion of some sorts that did have to play out. Though the main failure I see is why did they not at least lower the boom down? The freedom tower and building next door both have cranes on them too, hope they make it. It is a little worrysome that this came down and the worst isn't even there yet.
Best of luck to the east coast. Hope you have all followed warnings. If so most likely you should be ok.
It is time
Well, hopefully the tenants/insurance company/Construction company (NOT the taxpayers) of the building have to pay for the damages to the streets and infrastructure below...
It will be a big problem to get the crane down safely. A mobile crane will not be able to get to the site the street is not wide enough for it to operate even if you could find one that high. A new tower crane will have to be assembled to take the damaged one down. Even then to rig it will be a nightmare.
Get World's Toughest Fixes on the job. I'll watch that show.
Must be some of Romney's friends living there. Those poor people living in shabby 90 million dollar apartments. Must be tough sitting there on their leather sofa trying to figure out where to hide their money overseas so Obama can't find it and make them pay their fair share. Be scared little rich people it will be another 4 years. OBAMA 2012
Why of course this is a political story!!!! What was I thinking?
This storm is happening on Obama's watch, so...vote for Mitt!
fasttime - Um, first of all, it's under construction, so NO ONE is living there. Secondly, this will also be home to some of H-Wood's elite who I guarantee you are not friends of Romney. Thirdly, if you actually did your research you'd know that the breakdown of Dems and GOP among the 1%-ers is about 50-50.
That was a pretty lame stretch. I think it's a safe guess which idiot you're voting for.
No one lives INSIDE the building, so no problem or risk to anyone outside, below, nearby, next to or beside it Nah. Thank goodness you're not in systems safety and no one actually listens to you.
If you look at MSN today they were showing about equal on both sides which like you say isn't true have you ever noticed the stories you get from MSN you have to Google them to get the full story
theres a time and place for everything but this isn't one for politics. just some stupid morons choice against safety. post your political views where they actually count
If you follow the link above in the story you get this--The billionaires paying more than $90 million for top apartments at the new One57 tower in New York have some very special amenities. They get more than 10,000 square feet, 75 floors above Manhattan. They get VIP concierge and doorman services, along with some of the best views in the city.But they may also get a less publicized benefit: tax breaks of more than $150,000 a year from a program aimed at low-income housing.
As a person can see this is how Republicans think. OBAMA 2012
And if you read even more, you will see that the bulk of the tax break would go to the builder of the complex not the residents. The tax break is only taken if the builder also constructs low income housing to offset the expensive housing.
What little cardboard boxes in the park
Somebody's probably not going to get their check from Allstate!
It's an act of God. He is showing his displeasure at the 1% and their moral deficiency.
Agree. If it falls...it's God's will. Nothing to do but lie back and try to enjoy it.
Antistupidity your right he is fed up With Republicans claiming God is on their side
It would be nice to see ANY republican just once BE ON GODS SIDE, you know take care of the poor and think of someone else first.
here we go again
Is someone stuck in that building???
The live feed shows a strong light flashing on one of the top floors?!
All the other lights form that building are static and are steady...
I see it, most likely something blowing around and intermittently allowing light through from the other side of the building. That building is swaying, probably 50% of what is seen is real movement. Likely the building and camera swaying making it look worse than it is.
The flashing lite is actually MORSE CODE and it is saying.... "V-O-T-E-F-O-R-O-B-A-M-A" and " B-R-I-N-G-M-E-A-3-2-O-Z-C-O-K-E-F-O-O-K-B-L-O-O-M-B-E-R-G"
Seriously though, it's a warning light for aircraft.
There is so much Fog and rain right now you can't see anything.
Reminds me of that famous Picasso painting " White cow eating marshmallows in a snow storm "
Let the billionaires come and figure out what to do with it!!!!
don't worry we will be the ones to solve the problem...either intellectually or financially...we didn't get to be billionares by not being able to solve problems.
And it only took 40mph gusts for this to happen. The real stuff hasn't hit yet.
40 MPH sustained ground wind with a 95 MPH GUST at top of building.
Oustanding! Would love to see video of that falling.
Its the stop at the bottom I worry about. Under the road bed are, High and Distribution Voltage cables, Natural Gas lines, Steam lines, Phone and Fiber Optic lines to name a few. A drop from that height could pierce any or all of them. That would be something to see on video. Can we say BIG BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They were trying to use that crane to lift 0bama's sagging approval rating, but it buckled under the extreme weight of his suckitude.
A perfectly fine young comment, cut down in the prime of its life, by 'tolerant' liberals and socialists. Shame shame.
LAME!!!
Houstonite: I agree,... them lefties are poor sports, especially them ones that try to blame President Bush for everything.
Isn't "Live Video" and oxymoron?
Just askin'...
No.
Just answerin'...
and if new york is shut down for very many days, the 47%ers wont be able to get their welfare checks either. if were lucky the storm will keep ACORN from rounding up too many dead people votes like they did 4 years ago. without ACORN the dems don't have a chance.
Really? The Goppers have already been charged with throwing away and falsifying ballots and registrations in a number of states and beat Acorn to the punch. All paid with RNC money as well!
Such a silly, empty, wrong statement. One, there is no ACORN anymore, right wing lies killed it. The truth is Romney can't win without buying the company that supplies voting machines to Ohio and other places. There's where the REAL cheating is going on.
http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13221476-romney-family-buys-voting-machines-through-bain-capital-investment
I'm sorry, off subject, but I couldn't pass by such a ridiculous post without replying to it.
They also cornered the market on tinfoil so crazies like you wouldn't be able to check your messages.
Sorry, I couldn't pass by such a ridiculous paranoid post without replying to it.
Lets not forget Mittens son Tag, Trig, Tug or whatever his name is, is in business with the man who runs 40% of the voting machines in the country. Remember the ones that recorded Negative votes 2004 Florida. Yup those were his. If you think your local election office programs these machines, your dead wrong. The manufacturer has all the rights to programming. If it was a Democrat that programed them the screaming would from the right never end.
Feel sorry for you Paul, people of real intelligence know its true. Time to take those FOX plugs out of your ears and your FOX colored glasses off. NEWS FLASH PAUL; JEEP IS NOT MOVING TO CHINA!!!
I cannot imagine the mess that will be made if that thing breaks loose under 50 mph winds and falls 90 stories to the street (and whatever buildings it hits on the way down). That is gonna get messy. I hope there are no people hurt when that thing goes.
Looks like they have their fair-share of stupidity in NewYork. Lets begin with some of the facts, thy have located a crane thats dangling from the top of a building tores high, a stormis aproaching, maybe 50-60 mile per hour gusts, officials are studying the problem, no one knows what to do, of whio they should call to remedy th situation, Obama is busy, or they are waiting for him to make a decision, on a building where allot of the tenants are billionares? Hope I did`nt miss anything. I guess the "Big Apple" is occupid by a bunch of really smart individuals huh !
So, Mel, I guess you would know exactly how to deal with a crane hanging hundreds of feet above street level during an approaching hurricane? Perhaps you should give them a call. That's a tricky problem even if there was no hurricane. One wrong move, and a block of buildings can be destroyed (that happened a couple of years ago when a crane toppled).
However, the city has taken action. They've evacuated several blocks of buildings that could be endangered if the crane fell. And, they did it quickly. That is not easy task in the best of times. But, the City of New York has an amazing organizational capacity.
Somehow the Democrats will blame Bush for this.
More likely Cheney bought substandard bolts from China for his construction company.
Are you naturally stupid?
It was Bush's rich people that paid to put it up there
And the Republicans will blame Obama... So what's your point. I didn't realize this was ever a political thing?!? Thought it was about the "Hurri-Crane" (Props to PhilCommander)
"a new haven for billionaires who have been paying up to $90 million for choice apartments"
Nothing wrong with this country at all, nothing at all.
I was thinking the same thing!!
Let's see... a $90 million apartment (is that the minimum or average?)= 90- $1milion houses, or 600 houses at $150k each.
$90 milion for ONE place. What a waste. Must be nice. I am in no way jealous, but with the situations of so many people in this country, it is a SHAME. Can't you build a damm good homeless shelter (or ten!) or donate to renovate a public building (or ten!) for inexpensive housing to get people off the street and back on their feet??? WOW.
$90 million...and it's not likely the primary residence.
What business is it of yours to tell someone else how THEY should spend THEIR Money? I get the biggest kick out of the jealousy I see on these posts.
And also, Many rich people donate a great deal of their wealth to Charities. Romney donated his Inheritance to charity. What they do with the rest is their business.
Among the many stupid things Mitt Romney said at a May 2012 fundraiser was this gem:
"I have inherited nothing. Everything I earned I earned the old-fashioned way."
Janine-1645002
Its not jealousy, it's disgust.
As bad as the financial situation is in this country right now, many of these people having caused much of it, are now living in opulent extravagance, and trying to TAKE even more at the expense of the middle class and the poor will destroy what has up until now is the greatest country ever.
Can't wait to read of the lawsuits.
Another NYC crane accident. ygfsm .. where are the inspectors,doesn't the contractor make sure its properly secured to the building.
take this to the bank if Romney gets rid of policing agencies like OSHA, not only will workers lives be out at greater risk but so will , those little daycare kids walking past a city construction project. 1 falling object as small as a hammer can spell maim or deal to little girls and boys
q public
Yep, this isn't the first crane problem we have heard about. Don't you know we don't need OSHA and SEC or FAA or any government oversight agencies. We can trust corporations to watch out for the little man. :( It's not like those agencies really help us anyway, it is a turnstile where regulators go to work for the agencies they were regulating, like SEC auditors go to Wall St firms.
I would think the boom was lowered and tied down prior to leaving the site Saturday. If that's a live shot, the boom isn't moving and the winds will be fairly gusty.
I can't a imagine a contractor, operator or equipment company being that inept!
I think they should call in Superman Romney and Lyin' Ryan the marathon man to fix the situation. Don't worry, they have a 5-point program - details to be released after the crane crashes to the street. Don't worry if anyone is hurt they can go to the emergency room.
on closer examination it looks like a cable failure in the rigging at the top of the crane. of course how woould I know from such a small picture
PS its still romney's fault. ha ha
All the rich pay 90 grand to have these places, it's a good thing they don't have to pay there fair share or maybe they would get something cheaper. go pubs jerks
90 grand? Reading a problem for you?
voter in la...That was just mean! lol
Sorry I'd have responded sooner I was just trying to find some real estate bigger than the size of a postage stamp in NYC for 90K.
.