New York (PIX11)– After recovering the body of Willis Moore earlier this week, the cleanup to remove the debris from a collapsed parking garage was in full swing Friday.
“We’re not rushing through this cleanup. What I can say, is safety right now is our No. 1 priority. And we are working very hard right now to ensure the stability of the surrounding structures, as we proceed with the demolition,” said NYC Office of Emergency Management Commissioner Zachary Iscol.
City officials said there were dozens of SUVs parked on the garage’s roof level prior to its collapse, raising new questions about whether the garage owners allowed the total vehicle load to exceed the building’s functional weight capacity.
The city has also received various inquiries from residents who are still in their homes but worried the collapse may have affected the structural integrity of their building.
On Friday, city officials attempted to ease their concerns.
“We did a structural inspection of all the buildings surrounding that block. And vacated the areas that we thought had structural stability issues. So, if there wasn’t a vacate on there – we didn’t see any structure instabilities with the rest of the building,” said the NYC Department of Buildings Commissioner Kazimir Vilenchik.
The clean up of the collapsed building could take weeks.
