CNN
—
One more person was rescued overnight after a six-story apartment building partially collapsed in Davenport, Iowa, the city’s fire chief said Monday morning as crews with search dogs continued to look for anyone who might still be stuck inside.
“No known individuals are trapped in that facility,” Chief Mike Carlsten said, adding no fatalities have been reported.
Still, “the building is structurally unsound, is posing a risk to responders,” he said, adding structural engineers are on site as first responders prepare to shift from rescue operations to recovery.
It’s not clear how many people may be unaccounted for or how many residents are displaced.
Seven people earlier were rescued and more than a dozen others escorted out of the building, known as The Davenport, after part of its back section collapsed Sunday and detached from the rest of the structure, Carlsten said the prior evening.
The cause of the collapse has yet to be determined. The building’s owners had current permits for repair work for the exterior wall, said Richard Oswald, the city’s neighborhood services director.
Crews secured utilities after they found gas and water leaking from each floor of the building, officials said Sunday.
“I live in the building just next to it, and we heard just like a large crash,” Andrew Sommer, a former tenant of The Davenport, told CNN affiliate KWQC. “Shortly after, we went outside and saw the whole section of the building gone.”
The person rescued overnight was taken to a hospital, Carlsten said Monday.
Crews were dispatched to the scene around 4:55 p.m. Sunday, Carlsten said. The area will remain closed as the search efforts and investigation continue.
