UPDATED 8:55 A.M. 9-8
PEKIN, Ill. – For the second straight day, a wall collapse occurred at the building that houses the Pekin Township Offices.
Pekin Interim City Manager John Dossey says the south wall collapsed at around 4:30 P.M. Thursday, as crews were working on repairing the west wall that suffered a collapse Wednesday afternoon. He says the south wall’s collapse also took out power lines and telephone poles, which left downtown Pekin without power.
Dossey says the south wall collapse was not an accident by the construction crew working on the building, but a failure of the wall. He says the west wall damage was more significant than originally thought, with the age of the building and too much weight from the damaged roof also being cited as factors.
Dossey says there was hope Thursday morning after the west wall collapse that the building could be salvaged, but there’s growing concern about if it can be saved.
“I know the back half that we were hopeful that they’d be able to salvage part of it. I’m fairly certain that is going to come completely out,” Dossey said. “And then they’ll assess the other portion of it to determine the safety and ability of that, and then make a decision whether that can be saved.”
Dossey says engineers and inspectors will make a determination Friday about the building’s future.
He says Pekin Township leaders met Thursday night to determine their next steps, and Congressman Darin LaHood’s office has reached out to offer what support they can provide.
Dossey says there were no injuries in the south wall collapse. Roads surrounding the building are closed off, and Dossey is advising people to stay away from the area for safety reasons.
Ameren Illinois says as of 4 a.m. Friday, power has been restored to all affected customers in Pekin.
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UPDATED 6:43 P.M.
PEKIN, Ill. – Another wall has collapsed in the area of the west side of the Pekin Township building, causing a power outage downtown.
City Manager John Dossey says as crews were working on the far west wall, the south wall collapsed, taking live power lines with it. Dossey says Ameren is making rerouting power a priority so that electricity to just the township building is out. But, that also means for now, traffic lights are out, which means every intersection needs to be treated as a four-way stop.
“Out of an abundance of caution, emergency personnel responded and expanded the safe zone from both pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Broadway is closed between 4th and Elizabeth. Elizabeth remains closed between 4th and Broadway. 5th Street is closed from Broadway to Court. 4th street remains OPEN for through traffic north and south bound,” said Dossey, in a news release.
“Power is out in the downtown area,” said Dossey. “There have been many inquiries as to how long power will be out. At this time, we have no estimate on when power will be restored. City officials have been in contact with Ameren. Ameren has several crews working to switch power at substations to isolate the outage to only the Township Building. Ameren has made this a priority for the City and are working to isolate the outage to only the immediate area of the collapse.
“The City of Pekin will continue to provide updates as they become available, but for now ask that everyone please avoid the area as there are high risk of safety concerns due to live powerlines being down.”
We have a reporter heading to the scene, and will update this story, and provide updates on WMBD Radio, as details become available.
