Slater Street reopens after partial garage collapse
Efforts to free remaining vehicles from heavily damaged structure continue
Slater Street in downtown Ottawa has reopened after Wednesday morning's partial collapse of a parking garage, but the city said efforts to free vehicles still inside the damaged structure continue.
Ottawa firefighters said a 911 caller reported several "bowing" girders in the garage just west of O'Connor Street. Firefighters said they confirmed cracked and broken columns soon after. A large section of the garage collapsed around 4:45 a.m. Wednesday.
There are no reported injuries, but about 50 vehicles remain inside the multi-level garage.
"Essentially the floor dropped and subsequently took out the next floors below, and that was located directly over the entrance, which also unfortunately took out the ramp and ways to get out the vehicles," Scott Lockhart, the city's deputy chief building official, told CBC on Wednesday.
WATCH | The collapse caught on camera:
Lockhart said Thursday morning the work to remove remaining vehicles from the garage will take a few more days. He did not say how that will happen or if the vehicles can be removed without damaging them.
By Thursday morning, demolition crews had removed a section of the garage that remained between the area that collapsed and Slater Street, allowing traffic to flow once again.
The garage was built in 1989 and is owned by GWL Realty Advisors, a subsidiary of Canada Life.
Last June, the city's planning department signed off on a plan for a pair of apartment towers at the site.