As hurricane Sandy began to roar through the streets of New York City, a construction crane atop the $1.5 billion luxury high-rise One57 in midtown Manhattan collapsed in high winds Monday and dangled precariously above 57th Street. The boom of the 1,000 foot-high tower crane being used to construct the luxury residential tower collapsed in a back flip nearly 80 stories above storm-ravaged Manhattan, prompting engineers and inspectors to climb to the top to examine it as the huge storm bore down on the city.
For the first time since the storm, the developers, construction crew and city officials involved in the Midtown crane collapse shared panic-stricken moments from the effort to secure the machinery.
Some buildings, including 900 guests at the Parker Meridien hotel, were evacuated as a precaution and the streets below were cleared, but there were no immediate reports of injuries. City officials did not have a number on how many people were told to leave.
Authorities received a call about the collapse at around 2 p.m. as conditions worsened from the approaching Hurricane Sandy. Meteorologists said winds atop the 74-story building could have been close to 95 mph at the time.
