One tower down and one stands defiant as clock ticks.
One tower of the Sankey Hi-Rise was turned to rubble during a planned implosion Tuesday morning, but the other tower defied the odds and remained standing, leaving nearby residents evacuated from their homes and Springfield Housing Authority officials making other plans to get the building on the ground.
The explosive devices intended to take down both of the 14-story buildings reportedly went off as planned around 10:30 a.m. Officials had said earlier they thought the structures would fall within seconds. But they didn’t.
The north structure crashed to the ground about 10 minutes after the blast. The south building remained standing as of 1 pm local time.
Jackie Newman, executive director of the Springfield Housing Authority, said during a 1 p.m. update that officials were still confident the building will come down on its own soon.
Still, SHA leaders and representatives from the demolition company, Omega Demolition in Elgin, planned to meet again at 1:30 pm to see “at what point we’ll help gravity along.”
Read more here, or view the video here.
