> Clearwater Beach condo evacuated after cracks found in pillar under building
Clearwater Beach condo evacuated after cracks found in pillar under building
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A Clearwater Beach condo building was evacuated Tuesday afternoon over structural concerns, according to the Clearwater Police Department.
Crews responded just before 4 p.m. to begin stabilizing the 12-story South Beach Condo Complex at 1460 Gulf Boulevard.
"There has been no structure collapse, but there is concern about cracks found in a pillar underneath the building, and residents are being evacuated as a precaution," the police department wrote in a release.
Clearwater Fire & Rescue Division Chief Jevon Graham said construction workers first noticed a large crack in the building while working on the first-floor parking structure.
He said the crack was about a "couple of feet wide" and was getting bigger before crews began stabilizing it.
Inspectors took an hour and a half to go through the building floor-by-floor and help about 60 people evacuate. They'll likely be displaced all night, according to the fire division chief.
As multiple agencies respond to the scene, Chief Graham said the 2021 deadly Surfside condo collapse is "obviously in the back of everybody's mind."
"This isn't that common," he said, adding that, "Our tech and rescue teams are well-equipped to handle situations like this. Obviously, the bigger the structure, the greater that magnitude, but they're trained to do shoring operations."
In an update, Clearwater police said the scene was turned over to a private contractor and engineer around 9 p.m. Work to stabilize the building will continue into Wednesday.