Philadelphia city hall collapse
blamed on weather
An outer wall and the roof above the 62-year-old building collapsed on Saturday during heavy storms. In addition to housing the city government offices, the building also hosts organizations such as the Girl Scouts, the Ruritan Club, and housed a post for Rural Metro emergency crews.
The city hall building had a new roof installed just a year ago. Philadelphia's mayor, John Drinnon, suspects the heavy rains throughout 2013 led to the building's collapse by weakening the soil ground beneath its foundation.
Fortunately, nobody was hurt by the collapse because the facility was already evacuated. A couple of weeks ago someone noticed a crack in the upstairs wall where Rural Metro was provided an office by the city. Mayor Drinnon asked all groups to vacate the premises as a precaution. The mayor asked engineers to examine the walls and they concurred that the building was unsafe.
Drinnon said the city has salvaged as much as possible from the building and placed its documents in storage. Now the city is waiting for its insurance company to determine whether it will cover the cost of repairs or replacement.
For now, the Philadelphia city council meetings will be held at Philadelphia Elementary School.