15 minutes to evacuate before collapse drops debris on neighbouring houses.
A Southeast Washington neighbourhood was jolted Thursday when a building collapsed and it was all caught on tape.
As the demolition crew worked on what was left of the SE high rise, evacuated residents like Pete Lyes and Renee Carter, who share a place at Southern Homes and Gardens apartment complex, stood in a parking lot and fumed.
“They just woke us up and said, ‘Evacuate!'” said resident Rene Carter. “My father is 80 years old and they gave us 15 minutes to evacuate…if it had been in Georgetown, they would have put me up in a hotel or somewhere else,” Carter said.
Efforts to bring down the city-owned building had been going on for a week, a process accompanied by a lot of dust and debris.
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