www.nbcnews.com – 2023-05-29 16:43:00
Seven people were rescued in the hours after the collapse, while more than a dozen people were helped by first responders as they left the building, Carlsten said. Those seven people were all treated on site, he said, indicating relatively minor injuries.
An eighth person was rescued during an overnight search and they were taken to hospital, Mayor Mike Matson said Monday. He said that individual has “some sort of surgery” slated for Monday and is in “pretty bad shape.”
Officials said earlier on Monday they were still determining how many people could still be unaccounted for.
“I’m praying that there’s nobody left in there,” Matson said, noting that dogs searched the building for six hours.
“As right now, we haven’t identified anybody else,” who could still be in the building, he said.
Some people have taken to social media to plead for information on the whereabouts of loved ones who lived in the building.
Pauletta Brooks told NBC News Monday her grandmother, 52-year-old Lisa Brooks, lives in the building and is missing following the collapse.
Pauletta was at 324 Main Street earlier on Sunday and went out with some family members when she got a call about a gas leak at the apartment complex around 5 p.m. Family members then called Lisa Brooks and told her to evacuate the building.
“We called her and told her to escape the building, but the phone hung up. And we couldn’t get in contact with her since then,” Pauletta said.
She said that her grandmother, who moved into the complex two months ago, said she was heading out before the connection cut out.
“Right now I feel like… from the looks of it the news isn’t getting no better,” Pauletta said. “I just know what’s coming. I feel like it’s either she’s in the building still or she’s stuck.”
The cause of the collapse was still under investigation, with city structural experts expected to examine the building, officials said.
It’s not clear whether residents, who were evacuated and being helped by the Red Cross, would be able to return. Matson said the building was still structurally unsound as of Monday morning.
The building is constructed of brick over steel and concrete, according to the city’s public library.
Rich Oswald, the city’s director of development and neighborhood services, said the property’s ownership had “permit issues” for exterior brick work. In addition, he said, the owners were under city orders to make specific repairs and upgrades.
Reports of bricks falling in recent days were related to that work, he said. The condition of the building in downtown Davenport was the subject of numerous resident complaints, officials acknowledged at the news conference.
“The tenants of this building are pretty active,” Oswald said. “They’ve called the city numerous times with complaints.”
Matson addressed reports of complaints regarding the building: “We know some of the complaints, our folks go and look into those complaints, do inspections. But the owner…
