Area blocked off for safety reasons
Read more: Local, Community, Strange, Tourism, Building Collapse, Green Tamborine, Keokuk, 6Th and Maine
A historic building in downtown Keokuk collapsed in rubble Friday morning.
Police and firefighters are trying to figure out why the former Green Tambourine music store at sixth and Main imploded upon itself just before eight in the morning.
Police and firefighters saw a big pile of ruble when they got to 6th and Main early Friday morning...the remains of this collapsed building in a cloud of dust.
"It was still creaking and moaning since it had just fallen," says Police Chief Tom Crew.
Crew says neighbors to the east of the building said it sounded like an earthquake when it fell....neighbors to the west said they didn't hear anything, but saw a large plume of dust.
Chief Crew says no one was inside the abandoned building when it fell...but since rubble covers sidewalks in front of it, crews worked to clear debris to make sure no one got caught walking by when the building fell. That could have happened to Trish Lippe. She and her daughter walked by just minutes before the structure crashed to the ground. She says it was too close a call.
I feel very lucky and I hope I have a better day," says Lippe.
After police confirm there are no victims under the rubble, they plan to tear down the rest of the building which is still standing. As you can see it's already leaning to the west.
Investigators do not suspect any sort of explosion.
Were there structural problems prior to this?
"There were problems with the roof. There also were a series of tunnels running under the building that have been here since the construction of Keokuk. This is an old building and it was due to have construction work done to do tuck pointing. We feel that the delay of that process probably saved us a tragedy with this building collapsing on its own," says Crew.
Police are asking people to slow down and take care when passing by...to keep crews clearing debris as safe as possible.
