Hurricane Milton knocked over a towering construction crane in St. Petersburg on Wednesday night, sending the crane collapsing into an office building.
The crane was part of the construction of a condo building that’s set to become the tallest structure on Florida’s Gulf Coast once it’s complete, according to city officials.
It was knocked off balance and into an already completed building that houses the offices of the Tampa Bay Times and several other businesses in downtown St. Pete.
No one was injured in the incident. The Times said its newsroom was empty when Milton made landfall Wednesday night.
However, the office building appeared to suffer serious damage, with a sizable hole created in one corner of the building and a mess of debris falling down the side. Another part of the construction crane was strewn across city streets, forcing authorities to block off the area.
While construction cranes are designed to withstand winds up to 100 mph, Milton made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph sustained winds. Ahead of the storm, officials urged anyone living near construction cranes to leave for safer regions.
The under-construction building will eventually reach a height of 515 feet, according to developers. Red Apple Group, owned by New York supermarket billionaire John Catsimatidis, is in charge of constructing the building.
“We are grateful that no one was injured in the area, and that the only damage was to bricks and not to people,” Catsimatidis told Tampa Fox affiliate WTVT.
Milton made landfall around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday near Siesta Key in Sarasota County, south of St. Petersburg and Tampa. The storm killed at least 12 people and was already out to sea in the Atlantic Ocean by Thursday afternoon.
With News Wire Services
