Watergate garage collapses in Northwest D.C.; two persons injured

Could it happen here?

Washington Post, May 1st. 2015

Updated 4:36 p.m.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said at a press conference Friday afternoon that all construction workers and employees of the surrounding buildings have been accounted for, but because it is a public parking garage, it is possible that people could be trapped.

One search-and-rescue dog on the scene had a possible “hit” on a cadaver, she said.

Bowser said that the operation at the Watergate has shifted from a search-and-rescue mission to a recovery.

Updated at 12:40 p.m. 

All people are now accounted for after a three-story parking garage collapsed at the Watergate complex, according to DC Fire and EMS Department spokesman Oscar Mendez.

One person was transported to the an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Originally posted at 12:00 p.m.

A three-story parking garage collapsed at the Watergate complex on the 2600 block of Virginia Avenue NW just after 10 a.m. Friday morning. As of 11:30 a.m., one person was still missing, according to DC Fire and EMS Department spokesman Oscar Mendez.

The structure has been under construction and suffered what officials are calling a “pancake collapse”—a collapse in which one floor falls on top of another. Fire department personnel and officials from the District’s Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs are currently at the scene.

“We are still working to rescue that one person,” says Mendez.

Some Watergate complex buildings have been evacuated, including the iconic Watergate Hotel.

The hotel is undergoing a $125 million renovation that promises to restore glamour to the once high-end hotel inside the 10-acre Watergate complex made famous by the 1972 burglary that led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

Between 200 and 250 construction workers are on site each day, according to the developer.

Washington Post, May 1st., 2015.

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