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Crane Collapses In High Winds, Smashing Through Dallas Apartment Building

A photo provided by Michael Santana shows a collapsed construction crane at the Elan City Lights apartments in Dallas after severe thunderstorms on Sunday.
Michael Santana
/
AP
A photo provided by Michael Santana shows a collapsed construction crane at the Elan City Lights apartments in Dallas after severe thunderstorms on Sunday.

A construction crane in Dallas came crashing down Sunday on an apartment building, killing at least one person and injuring five others, local fire officials said.

The crane was slammed by sudden high winds as high as 70 mph, causing it to buckle and fall onto the five-story Elan City Lights building.

The body of a woman, who was not identified by officials, was found inside the building after the collapse, fire officials said.

The Dallas Morning News reports that the five others were hospitalized, two in critical condition and two in serious condition. The fifth was treated and released.

"The building itself has suffered multiple collapses in different areas ... to include residential spaces and the parking garage," Dallas Fire Rescue official Jason Evans said.

Evans said he has dealt with crane collapses in the past, but "I don't recall ever responding to one where it's actually fallen on an occupied building, much less a five-story occupied high-rise building."

He said the cause of the crane's collapse was uncertain, but he felt there was a "strong possibility" that the winds "played some role in the collapse," according to The Associated Press.

Bill Zeeble of NPR member station KERA reports that the storm damaged neighborhoods across north Texas, taking down trees, damaging property and cutting off power to more than 300,000 electricity customers.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Scott Neuman is a reporter and editor, working mainly on breaking news for NPR's digital and radio platforms.

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

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