Cranes demolished, piece impaled in Rampart Street
NEW ORLEANS (WWL)- After days of delays, two cranes towering over the Hard Rock Hotel construction site were demolished by city crews Sunday afternoon. The pair of unstable construction cranes produced a large amount of debris.
It is unclear if the demolition went how the city intended for it to go. The situation is still fluid, and city officials are warning residents to stay inside.
2:54 p.m.
Photos of the Hard Rock Hotel crane explosion on North Rampart Street. @WWLTV #BeOn4 pic.twitter.com/3vH1r2bMrX
— Andres Fuentes (@news_fuentes) October 20, 2019
The charges ignited, and we saw them blow. A split second later, we heard a tremendous boom — even with earplugs in — and a second later, the cranes fell in a massive cloud of dust. The earth literally shook. Debris is still falling off the building.
— Danny Monteverde (@DCMonteverde) October 20, 2019
2:50 p.m.
Residents as far away as Lakeview have reported hearing the explosion. City officials will likely brief reporters soon.
Iberville crane is partially standing on N. Rampart. Canal crane hanging over edge of building. pic.twitter.com/ml9oa3A96f
— Danny Monteverde (@DCMonteverde) October 20, 2019
2:41 p.m.
It appears some of the debris from one of the cranes is still hanging on the top of the Hard Rock Hotel construction site.
Another piece, from the crane further down Rampart Street, appears to have impaled itself into something below, either the ground or a building.
As the dust cloud begins to clear, it is unclear how close the demolition went to the city’s plan.
2:39 p.m.
The two cranes towering over the Hard Rock Hotel construction site have come down, as city demolitionists ignite charges on both cranes.
2:36 p.m.
The two-minute warning sirens have gone off. The implosion appears imminent.
2:20 p.m.
BREAKING: Exclusion zone final sweep happening as we speak.
— Danny Monteverde (@DCMonteverde) October 20, 2019
1:47 p.m.
City officials believe the crane demolition will take place around 2 p.m.
Crews did several sweeps of the building to check its stability and to make sure nobody is inside when the explosives go off.
12:53 p.m.
Reporters were told that the demolition was being pushed back by about 35 minutes to 1:30 p.m.
It is unclear what is causing the delays.
12:17 p.m.
Workers can be seen inside the construction site, doing a last check before demolition. It appears the implosion of the cranes is happening soon, but is not immediate.
Meanwhile, the state fire marshal has its drone above the building, and there appear to be crews inside, presumably doing one last sweep of the building.
— Danny Monteverde (@DCMonteverde) October 20, 2019
11:02 a.m.
There’s even more reason to avoid the French Quarter and downtown New Orleans this morning as we get closer to the demolition:
Understandably, traffic in CBD is nuts. Stay home, if you can.
— Paul Dudley (@Pauldudleynews) October 20, 2019
We are awaiting the implosion of the Hard Rock cranes this morning. Traffic in the CBD and French Quarter is a mess because of many, many road closures. Stay home if you don't need to be out and about right now.
— Danny Monteverde (@DCMonteverde) October 20, 2019
10:20 a.m.
As New Orleans residents wait for the cranes to come down, the city is reminding anybody in the temporary exclusion zone to stay inside until further notice.
The demolition could blow up powdered concrete into the air, which is hazardous to breathe in.
It is also expected to be a loud event, and could cause hearing damage to anybody in the temporary exclusion zone who is not protected.
This is why they set up a "temporary exclusion zone" around the evacuation zone, to protect residents who might not be directly hit by debris, but could still inhale harmful dust or suffer hearing damage https://t.co/8xpbzRpPTn
— Chris McCrory (@ckm_news) October 20, 2019
10:03 a.m.
A mass was held for the brother of one of the victims of the Hard Rock Hotel collapse ahead of the planned demolition of two cranes in the construction site.
8:48 a.m.
Evacuations have started around the Hard Rock Hotel site as crews prepare to demolish two cranes towering over the building.
The evacuation zone has grown since Saturday, and now includes a wide area where no vehicle traffic is being allowed.
Here’s the latest evacuation map:
7:13 a.m.
A cold front moving into New Orleans Monday is bringing a 70% chance of strong storms, undercutting how urgent the demolition of the two cranes embedded in the Hard Rock Hotel collapse site is.
For earlier events leading up visit: wwltv.com