NYC crane - too close for comfort

As sirens blared outside Saturday afternoon, I milled around the apartment and chatted on the phone, trying to push the sound to the background and wondering what kind of parade might be going on today. It's the Ides of March, but I didn't think there would be a parade for that, and the St. Patrick's Day parade was scheduled for Monday. After more than an hour of constant sirens, I got off the phone and decided to investigate. I stepped out on the balcony and looked around - I couldn't see anything on the streets and I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary. As I stepped back inside, Jane came in from walking Roxy and I asked her, "What in the world is going on?!" She turned on the TV, and the first image we saw was practically the picture you will see below with the caption, "Midtown Crane Collapses." We screamed and ran back to the window. Sure enough, the crane was gone!! As freaked out as I was about the terrible disaster, I was equally freaked out that I had studied the scenery and not noticed one single thing out of the ordinary.


The view of the crane from earlier Saturday morning. My friend Gina from Birmingham had come by the apartment and taken pictures of the view around 12:30...the crane fell around 2:30...

Zoomed in from the last shot - the crane snapped under the worker cabin. See the next picture.

A similar shot of the remaining part of the crane propped against the building is what kept being shown on TV.

Of course I had to go and investigate. Considering I could see it out the window AND I walk by there to get to the 51st Street stop on the 6 train subway...it was my duty to check it out!

The crane fell on 51st Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues.

Onlookers and firemen everywhere. The roads around the collapse were blocked off all week, and an investigation of the city's 260 cranes began immediately - others have fallen in the last few months.






The view of the crash site at night - bright lights were used to keep the area lit all night every night as workers cleaned up the crushed buildings.