DAVENPORT, Iowa — Rescue operations continued Sunday night after part of an apartment building collapsed in the eastern city of Davenport in Iowa. Authorities have not said if anyone was killed.
Authorities said people were treated for injuries at the scene but did not elaborate on how many.
Rescuers were called to the scene just before 5pm on Sunday. Fire crews rescued seven people and escorted more than a dozen others from the building in their initial response, Davenport Fire Chief Michael Carlsten said at a news conference.
Carlsten said the rear of the six-story apartment complex collapsed and was separated from the building, which has apartments on the upper floors and businesses on the ground level.
Authorities found a gas leak after the collapse, Carlsten said, while water also seeped into the structure’s floors.
First responders were still searching for the unidentified people Sunday. The stability of the building was a concern after the secondary collapses while rescuers were on the scene, Carlsten said.
“Our focus is rescue right now,” Davenport Mayor Mike Matson said at a news conference.
“This is an active scene. We will continue to work, continue to evaluate, with the full intent of trying to find people and try to get them,” Matson said, adding that he had spoken with Governor Kim Reynolds, who offered help.
The Davenport Police Department asked people to avoid downtown after the collapse.
A reunification area established in St. Anthony’s Church on Main Street was served by Red Cross personnel, said Carlsten.
The cause of the collapse was not immediately known.
Rich Oswald, City of Davenport director of development and neighborhood services, said at a news conference that work was being done on the exterior of the building at the time of the collapse.
Reports of bricks falling from the building earlier this week were part of that work and the building’s owner has a permit for the project, Oswald said.
The Quad-City Times reports that Robert Robinson, a second-floor resident, went out and came back in as alarms went off in the building.
“When we started to come back the lights went out,” he told the newspaper. “Suddenly everyone started running saying the building is collapsing. I’m glad we got down.”
Robinson and his girlfriend got on the elevator just in time, he said.
“It’s terrible,” he said. “We have nowhere else to go. There is nothing to eat.”
Tadd Machovec, a Davenport contractor, told the newspaper he was inside installing a support beam when the building collapsed.
Some people in the area said the building had problems. City officials said Sunday that they had several complaints from residents about the repairs needed.
Jennifer Smith, co-owner of Fourth Street Nutrition, said she learned of the explosion from her husband, who works for Mid-American Energy.
“He was called and summoned for the explosion of the building downtown. We didn’t know it was our building,” he said. “It’s bad, but we’ve been calling the city and giving complaints since December. December.”
Smith said the water damage has been evident since they moved into their space in the winter. The company’s co-owner, Deonte Mack, said fire crews were in the building Thursday for an inspection.
“The tenants told us the building was going to collapse,” Smith said.
The Quad-City Times reports that the building is owned by Andrew Wold. A working phone number for Wold was not immediately available Sunday night and attempts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
Nearly 20 permits were filed in 2022 for building repairs, mainly for plumbing or electrical issues, according to the county auditor’s office.