Yesterday, a bit before 8pm, the Shadow Lady sent me a text message "Let's watch the news tonight... something happened on 108th, right next to where I work!".  Later, we saw that a tower crane failed, and toppled over.  The crane fell across the roadway, and cut through buildings surrounding the construction site.  I gave her a ride to work this morning, so she wouldn't have to take the bus, and took some pictures as I drove off.  It was pretty incredible!

The building where I used to work IS pretty striking... Especially in the morning and evening, when the colors are more interesting.  I sort of miss the place. sort of.

Two blocks down from my former employer's building, 108th is cut off, and traffic is diverted around the affected site.

You can see the crane extending over the roadway, and part of it resting against the apartment building across the street.

One person unfortunately was in his apartment when the crane crashed through it.

Firemen lashed down the crane to stabilize it over the night.

Inspectors from the state, insurance company, and Hess Cranes were on site at sunrise to see if they can figure out what happened.

Hess is the same company that had the mishap in the King Dome a few years ago - a cable snapped, colapsing a crane assembly during sound proofing tile replacement.

The crane operator lived through the collapse.  He said he heard a loud cracking noise, then rode the crane down as it fell over.

He said it was a scary ride, watching the concrete get closer and closer...

The "303", a 3 story building made out of wood, was heavily damaged by the crane clipping the corner of the building. 

All the floors on the corner were crushed to the ground.  Luckily, it seems that no one was in the building - the collapse came well after "normal" work hours.

The crane struck several buildings on its way down, ripping a huge hole in the one more than a block away.

People on that floor were allowed to go back to work...

It'd be pretty eerie!

The mess will take a while to clean up, to be sure.

The apartment building, and the 303 were both made out of wood, and were no match for the 210-foot crane.

The apartment complex was partially evacuated, while the 303 is closed until they can determine just how badly it was damaged.

The concrete office building was damaged, but held up pretty well.

The hole, according to the news, was largely surface damage, and very little structural damage was done to the building.

It sure is something that won't be forgotten for quite some time!

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