North Carolina Condo Building Collapses During Storm

A video went viral over the past few days showing a Raleigh, North Carolina condo under construction collapsing during a windstorm.  Toll Brothers, the company constructing the Brier Creek condominium building, is now saying that the building was not complete enough to withstand the wind gusts.  When the building collapsed on Saturday, it was not yet in compliance with the Raleigh building codes, which require structures to be able to withstand wind gusts up to either 90 or 100 miles per hour.  The largest wind gust measured at Raleigh-Durham International Airport during the storm was 86 miles per hour.  Meteorologists are trying to determine if that makes the gust the strongest or second strongest ever recorded in the area.

Representatives from Toll Brothers released the following statement about the collapse, “Structures that are in such an early phase of construction, such as the portion of the building at issue here which did not yet have the benefit of all of the intended structural bracings and support, are not capable of withstanding the extreme (80+ mph) winds that were encountered on Saturday.” Ian Giammanco, a research scientist who works for the Insurance Institute for Business and Home safety, agrees with the company’s statement.  He points to the fact that other buildings in the area are still standing, including those next too the Brier Creek Condominium constructed by Toll Brothers, as evidence that shoddy construction was not the cause of the collapse.  Construction workers were dividing time on Monday between picking up debris and working on what is left of the condominium. Please find a related video embedded under “Media” below.

Source: NewsObserver