Two buildings on UW campus evacuted
I guess this should be filed under “breaking,” as I’m currently writing this from inside one of the two UW buildings which were supposedly evacuated due to a partial structural collapse. Students, some of whom were in classes in Thomson hall at the time, report the second floor buckling and debris falling into a hallway. There definately were a bunch of firetrucks around for a short time near 3pm, but they seem to have mainly cleared out. Communications, the neighboring (and attached) building, was also evacuated — but nobody told our office, apparently. I’ll continue to report on structural integrity issues throughout the afternoon, but if this is my last post for Metblogs, I’ll miss you all…
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Do you have your camera with you?
Did you make it out, Peter?
I’m safe and sound — nothing much to take pictures of save a closed-off hallway with engineers poking around. Apparently the official verdict is “non-rain-related settling”: http://thedaily.washington.edu/index.php?storyID=15248
What do you mean, supposedly evac’d? I was in the building at the time, too (on the third floor), and it was definitely evac’d… :p (And lemme just say, getting 200+ people out of that building in an emergency is a nightmare.)
It was an interesting experience - earthquake-y and loud. However, given this is not the first time Thompson has “settled”, I’m not terribly thrilled about going back in there come Tuesday… What were you doing in there, anyhow?