Jason Polanco left behind nearly all of his belongings when he and his colleagues, who were just starting their work day, were told to evacuate their Midtown Manhattan office building Tuesday. They expected it to be brief.
Instead, they spent the next hours trying to get back inside to retrieve their laptops, paperwork and other essentials after the structural columns of a nearby high-rise building buckled.
Confused and frustrated, evacuated workers fled their office buildings and hotel guests hauled suitcases out of the danger zone as questions mounted over the building city officials said was “unstable” and could have a “localized collapse.”
Both fire officials and Polanco’s office have not provided firm timelines on when they’ll be allowed back inside, with estimates ranging from a few days to two weeks, he said. A day after the incident, several nearby buildings remained evacuated and surrounding streets that are typically bustling with people were mostly vacant due to closures as teams continued stabilization work.
The East 42nd Street building hasn’t moved since Tuesday morning, but four nearby buildings remain evacuated, city officials said. Its developer said it has been stabilized with temporary shoring efforts and no part of it was at risk of collapse at any point, despite the city earlier establishing a formal “collapse zone” around it after warning it was not stable.
