A construction crane toppled into an office building housing the Tampa Bay Times and left a massive hole in the side of the structure during violent winds from Hurricane Milton.
The crane was being used to construct a luxury high-rise 46-story building — the tallest skyscraper in St. Petersburg — and couldn’t handle the wrath of the storm’s winds when it fell late Wednesday night.
A large part of the crane slammed into the side of the adjacent office building, home to several businesses, including the Tampa Bay Times.
Images from the aftermath show twisted metal and debris from the collapse scattered throughout the street in downtown St. Petersburg.
Witnesses near the wreckage told the Tampa Bay Times that they saw palm trees tangled with the mangled metal, smoke billowing from the damaged building, and the smell of gasoline lingering in the air.
The newspaper reported that no one was working inside its newsroom when the crane crashed into the building.
St. Petersburg city officials also confirmed that no one was injured when the crane came plummeting down due to the force of Hurricane Milton’s winds.
A resident on the 12th floor of a nearby residential building, Michael Kotler, told the outlet he heard what he believed was ground-shaking thunder from the storm at around 10 p.m.
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Kotler said he then looked out from his window and saw part of the crane embedded into the side of the building.
New York billionaire John Catsimatidis’ Red Apple Group, the developer of the 515-foot residential building, confirmed that “one crane cab in the upper section of the mast” fell during the storm.
The building, “400 Central,” is expected to be completed in the Spring and open to residents in the Summer, according to WTSP.
The condos range between $1.1 and $8 million.
St. Petersburg’s city building official, Don Tyre, said the three cranes at the construction site used to build the massive skyscraper were rated to withstand winds up to 110 mph.
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Milton made landfall as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key in Sarasota County around 8:30 p.m., with winds up to 120 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Winds from the storm ranged from 105 to 110 mph in St. Petersburg around the time the crane collapsed.
Tropicana Field, home of the MLB’s Tampa Bay Rays, suffered significant damage to its roof less than a mile away from the Tampa Bay Times’ building.
While shocking, tower cranes were a point of worry for city officials earlier this week as they prepared for Hurricane Milton’s destruction.
St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch expressed his concern before the storm about several cranes towering over construction sites around the city, according to Fox 13.
Welch and other city officials had been worried the cranes might topple over during the storm and were unable to take action to disassemble them due to short notice.
He advised nearby residents to evacuate the area to avoid the disaster.
