Officials in Iowa are making plans to demolish a six-story apartment building a day after it partially collapsed, injuring at least one person and displacing countless residents and business owners. No fatalities have been reported.
City officials in Davenport, a city in eastern Iowa, said in a news release that the property owner was served Monday with an order for demolition of the building that was once the Davenport Hotel. Residents were not allowed back inside to remove their belongings because of the building's unstable condition.
"The property is currently being secured by a contractor on site this afternoon and demolition is expected to commence in the morning," the statement said.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.
News of the collapse didn't surprise Schlaan Murray, a former resident, who told The Associated Press that his one-year stay there was "a nightmare."
Murray, 46, moved into his apartment in February 2022 and almost immediately began having issues. The heat and air conditioner didn't work, and there were plumbing problems in the bathroom.
He made multiple calls to the management company, and rarely got a response. Occasionally, he said, a maintenance person would stop by but never completely fix the problem.
"They would come in and put some caulk on it," he said. "But it needed more than that. They didn't fix stuff, they just patched it up."
He questions how the building passed inspections.
"It was horrible," Murray said, adding that he felt the conditions were so bad that he didn't want to bring his children to his apartment.
Murray said he moved out a month before his lease was up in March, and still hasn't received his security deposit. He said that while the building's conditions were deplorable, many residents were like him and had a difficult time coming up with first and last month's rent, plus a security deposit, to move to another apartment.
Meanwhile, firefighters and other first responders are being credited with saving lives -- at great risk to their own personal safety, officials said during a Monday morning news conference.
"When something like this happens here, and tragedy strikes, our responders immediately do their work and their job and I can't thank them enough," Mayor Mike Matson said.
Fire Chief Michael Carlsten said workers and K-9 units searched for survivors throughout the night and rescued one person from the building -- bringing the total number of people rescued by fire officials to eight. An additional 12 people were escorted out by fire crews when they first responded to the collapse Sunday evening.
"No known individuals are trapped in that facility," Carlsten said. Authorities have not released how many people were injured or provided details on the nature of their injuries. Carlsten did say that the person who was rescued overnight was in the hospital.
The building collapsed just before 5 p.m. Sunday. Carlsten said the back of the complex had separated from the mixed-use building, which houses apartments and businesses. Authorities also found a gas leak in the building after the collapse.
Rich Oswald, City of Davenport director of development and neighborhood services, said at a news conference Sunday that work was being done on the building's exterior at the time of the collapse.
Reports of bricks falling from the building earlier this week were part of that work, Oswald said.
Damage is seen to The Davenport on Main Street in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday, May 29, 2023. A section of the six-story downtown apartment building collapsed Sunday. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)
Onlookers survey the The Davenport on Main Street in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday, May 29, 2023. A section of the six-story downtown apartment building collapsed Sunday. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)
A yellow warning sign hangs on a fence around The Davenport on Main Street in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday, May 29, 2023. A section of the six-story downtown apartment building collapsed Sunday. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)
Damage is seen to The Davenport on Main Street in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday, May 29, 2023. A section of the six-story downtown apartment building collapsed Sunday. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)
Rubble lies in a pile outside The Davenport on Main Street in Davenport, Iowa, on Monday, May 29, 2023. A section of the six-story downtown apartment building collapsed Sunday. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)
Emergency crews work the scene of a partial apartment building collapse Sunday, May 28, 2023, in Davenport, Iowa. (Nikos Frazier/Quad City Times via AP)