Superstorm Lashes New York, Snaps Crane

Rains and wind lash New York City as superstorm Sandy hit it with blunt force, snapping the neck of a crane on the 90th floor of an apartment building in midtown.

Published

7 months ago

Categories

US

Topics

United States

People

Michael Bloomberg

Places

United States of America, New York City, New York

Transcript

SHOTLIST: NEW YORK, OCTOBER 29, 2012, SOURCE: AFPTV - MS NYPD at police line - Tourists take photos of police tape line - MS TV journalists at sight of the crane accident VOX POP 1 Woman (English, 10 sec): "I'm pretty scared. Especially with the World Trade Center right now. It's making a really, really loud noise that's very scary. All the wind is, like, hitting it. And it's making a loud noise." - MS of broken crane - 5th Avenue sign with crane in background - CU crane VOX POP 2 Man (English, 13 sec): "It's terrible, so... But it's epic. It doesn't happen often so... The best way to experience this is to learn from it, to make sure nothing happens now or in the future." - Shot of skyscraper with heavy rain and wind - WS man standing against the wind VOX POP 3 Man [same man as VOX POP 3] (English, 5 sec): "I'm pretty, pretty good. I mean, I think [New York Mayor Michael] Bloomberg amd them have prepared the city for the worst." VOX POP 4 Man (English, 10 sec): "Well, I'm going to stay at home, pretty much. I've got some supplies for two days, food. It's getting a little windy right now, so the idea is just to go back home, sit down, sit it out." - WS Times Square - WS people walking in Times Square - CU ticker tape on Times Square showing "Hurricane Sandy Arriving" -------------------------------------------------- AFP TEXT STORY: US-weather-storm-crane Crane on New York skyscraper buckles in storm winds NEW YORK, Oct 29, 2012 (AFP) - Gale force winds from Hurricane Sandy on Monday buckled a crane on top of a 90-story New York apartment block which was left dangling as the storm intensified. Police and fire services cleared streets and some other buildings around the high-rise, close to Central Park, which was designed by award-winning French architect Christian de Portzamparc. A major hotel was among the buildings cleared. No casualties were immediately reported, though some witnesses said parts of the crane had fallen into the street. Gas and water pipes around the building were cut, and city engineers and fire department experts had climbed the building to assess the danger, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told reporters. "This is a preventive measure to mitigate the damage if the booms from the crane were to collapse and fall into the street," Bloomberg said. "We just don't want to risk the lives of anybody trying to be a hero and secure it at the moment," the mayor said. "With the winds as they are, we just cannot secure it. The best we can do is take precautions." Witnesses told the NY1 television news channel that the crane on the top of the One57 building had been swaying all morning as the winds from the storm increased. Aviadav Benzikry told the channel that large pieces of metal fell from the crane into the street as it buckled backwards. The 1,004-foot (306-meter) skyscraper, which is due to be finished next year, has some of the most expensive apartments in New York. One penthouse recently sold for more than $90 million, according to the New York Times.