Officials at a suburban mall in Milwaukee were breathing sighs of relief after a parking structure collapse damaged two vehicles but no injuries to shoppers.
A piece of concrete from the third floor of the three-story parking structure collapsed at Bayshore Mall around lunchtime on February 23 and fell all the way down to the first-floor ramp area. The piece of concrete is about 20 feet long and 50 feet wide according to the Milwaukee deputy fire chief, as reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
The collapse occurred in an area of the floor where snow was piled from a storm a day earlier that produced only about an inch of snow, but the wintery mix was considered extremely dense and heavy, the equivalent to about 10 inches of regular snow according a National Weather Service meteorologist quoted in the article.
The structure was built in the mid-2000s and was recently inspected by the city building inspector. Investigations are under way to determine the exact cause of why the collapse occurred.
In addition to the two vehicles that were damaged in the collapse, more than 50 other vehicles were parked in the structure at the time of the collapse and will be unable to be removed for perhaps months as the investigation and cleanup goes on.
Dave Lubach is managing editor of the Facility Market.
