Heavy equipment moving rubble, crunching cars, at 26th St. collapse
Above: Some of the cars that fell into the ravine, including the now badly crumpled-up Subaru.
Yesterday, police were telling the worried owner of a black Subaru that her car appeared miraculously intact, despite sliding down an embankment when a retaining wall collapsed.
“It looks good, like it was just driven down onto the [railroad] track,” a Baltimore city policeman told the woman, who was circling the cordoned-off scene at East 26th and Saint Paul streets trying to find out what to do.
He was right, judging by photos we and others took of the mess of rubble, dirt, sidewalk, wrought-iron fencing, street lights and upended cars down in the gully. There sat the Subaru on the track, looking (from a distance at least) pretty good.
Not so today.
The Subaru was in a different spot at the collapse site, its body heavily crumpled, its emergency lights flashing.
Heavy equipment operators had to get cars out of the way to get at the pile of dirt and busted-up infrastructure. (Photo by Fern Shen)
As heavy equipment tackled the tons of material covering the CSX-owned track, it was clear that cars were being moved in order to get the mammoth job done. The Brew watched, in fact, as one of big rubble-clearing machine grabbed up another car like a toy and set it down out of the way.
Up at the surface, the street was abuzz with police officers, tow trucks hauling the first cars away, insurance company claims officials, local and national media and city engineers checking on the stability of the buildings. A drone hovered over the site, P. Kenneth Burns of WYPR noted on Twitter.
Today, at least – unlike yesterday when the rain was pounding – they had a warm sunny day in which to do their work.
Nice Job Citizen Journos!
Folks who live or work in the area were among the first to broadcast the news of what happened. Among the early Tweeters was Bikemore executive director Chris Merriam, who posted good photos that really helped media members who arrived after police cordoned off the scene.
A good view of how the collapsed section of 26th Street looked, yesterday, facing west toward the CSX train tunnel. (Photo by Stacey Mink)
Another great shot was captured by Stacey Mink, of Neighborhood Working Families. (It shows how that Subaru looked too.)
Helpful not only to the media but to residents nearby was The Charles Village Benefits District “Clean Team.”
“The CVBD Clean Team Staff saw the incident as it happened” and Crew Chief Howard Williams even shot an amazing video of the first stage of it – the street full of cars tipping precariously down, the asphalt cracked.
Bishop Matthew E. Bradby II posted the video on Facebook and explained how the staff knocked on doors and helped some residents get their cars out of harm’s way.
But the money shot, as they say, popped up late in the day in our in-basket. It’s by Todd Tesla and it’s a YouTube video showing the collapse itself happening as people gathered in the rain on 26th Street watch and shriek. Other media have circulated it, as they should – it is jaw-dropping.
Nice going, all!