WASHINGTON — Due to structural damage, residents were evacuated from a nine-story apartment building in Alexandria, Virginia, on Sunday and many were not be allowed to stay the night in their homes.
The Red Cross said 180 units were evacuated after cracks were found in apartments on two floors at River Towers, which is in the 6600 block of Wakefield Drive. Fairfax County Fire and Rescue received the call Sunday afternoon.
“I felt a jolt around 1:30, like a shaking for a couple of seconds and then maybe 30 or 40 seconds later a bang,” said Terry Gish, a resident at River Towers. “The glass shook and the door was stuck when you tried to get out so you had to pull the door very hard to get out.”
Another resident, John Andrews, recalled, “Then the tile began to fall off the columns, marble — made a tremendous noise.”
County officials said they discovered a problem in 32 units in the front of the building. Structural engineers said some of the building’s support columns had shifted. The building’s gas and the HVAC units have been turned off as crews investigate.
“When they (firefighters) arrived on the scene, they did find cracks in the columns and also they found cracks in some of the walls inside the building, second and third floors,” said Willie Bailey, battalion chief for Fairfax County Fire and Rescue. “And there were some doors that wouldn’t shut or open and we determined it did have something to do with the building itself shifting or moving.”
Most residents were allowed to return to their homes in the building after 8 p.m., officials said. But residents in the apartments above the damaged columns could be affected for the long term and were only allowed to get their necessities.
Residents are being let back in building. Only those w/ apt #s end in 01, 02, 03, 04 will not be able to reoccupy. pic.twitter.com/Ed93XThpBb
— Fairfax Fire/Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) October 2, 2016
A nearby elementary school will house some of the displaced.
WTOP’s Dick Uliano contributed to this report.
