Iowa building collapse - latest: Davenport authorities quit rubble search for missing despite family pleas

Shocking photos have revealed how huge cracks were developing in the walls of an apartment building in Davenport, Iowa, in the weeks before its sudden collapse – as questions continue to mount about whether residents should have been moved from the treacherous structure long ago.

Rachel Sharp reports:

Elizabeth Pruitt, an intern at The Quad-City Times, had moved into The Davenport less than 24 hours before its collapse. Ms Pruitt, originally from Missouri, saw the listing online, said she felt the images she saw in the online listings and on a video-call with the property management were not how the building really looked inside.

“The first thing I notice when I walk in the building is how gross it is, how unclean it is. And I don’t mean it hasn’t been cleaned in a month. It truly seems like it hasn’t been cleaned in years,” she told the Times.

Ms Pruitt, who had brought her cat Lulu in the move, left to go to Target on Sunday evening. When she returned, the rear part of her building was gone.

“I said, ‘That’s my building.’ And I just break down. I rushed to the cop that’s near me, and I’m trying to get information and he doesn’t tell me anything. He just tells me a building collapsed,” Ms Pruitt said. “I tell him, ‘That’s my apartment. My stuff’s inside. My cat’s inside.’ And he just says, ‘Well I can’t let you in. Nobody’s going in.’”

Her biggest worry was Lulu, Ms Pruitt said. And for nearly 48 hours, she anxiously waited for updates until a coworker informed her the Humane Society of Scott County had rescued her.

“All I read was, ‘We have Lulu,’ and I cried,” she said.

Ms Pruitt is receiving donations through a GoFundMe to cover her losses.

Nearly two years ago, part of a condominium in Miami, Florida collapsed suddenly, killing 98 people and injuring 11 others.

For some, the partial collapse of The Davenport in Davenport, Iowa is reminiscent of the tragic Surfside Condominium collapse. You can read The Independent’s previous coverage of that here:

The far-right network Newsmax has come under fire for using images from a building collapse in Davenport, Iowa, in a report about a drone strike in Moscow, Russia.

The six-story building partially collapsed on Sunday afternoon, with city officials now saying that they’re evaluating if further searches for survivors can safely be conducted as the building is at risk of toppling.

Five people are unaccounted for following the collapse, with Mayor Mike Matson saying on Tuesday that officials think two of them may still be in the building, according to CNN.

Gustaf Kilander reports:

When permit records for an Iowa building that collapsed this past weekend were mysteriously changed after the tragedy, city officials blamed a “computer glitch”. Skeptical members of the community aren’t convinced it was a mistake.

Three tenants are still unaccounted for after a large portion of a six-storey apartment complex in Davenport fell down on Sunday night. Authorities have said they now face a challenging decision as engineers warned another collapse of the remaining structure is “imminent”.

Andrea Blanco reports:

Davenport Police are asking anyone with information about the whereabouts of three men who could be trapped under the rubble of The Davenport.

Branden Colvin, 42, Ryan Hitchcock, and Daniel Prien, 60, are believed to have been home when their apartment building collapsed on Sunday 28 May.

However, police are asking the public for any information that could help locate the three men on the off chance they were not home or managed to escape the collapse zone.

People with information that can confirm this or indicate otherwise, can call 563-326-6125.

An Iowa task force has said it has completed a search for survivors at the site of the partially collapsed apartment building in downtown Davenport and is moving ahead with its plan to shore up the structure so that recovery efforts can begin, city authorities said on Friday.

The state task force was mobilised and on-site to first search for survivors and then secure the structure, said Rick Halleran, the chief of the task force’s Cedar Rapids division.

He said the search for survivors was completed on Thursday evening after electrical equipment connected to the building was controlled.

“We do what the building tells us to do,” Mr Halleran said of the delay in searching the building.

The structure “needed to settle” before rescuers could proceed, he explained.

Confusion remains as to the whereabouts of missing residents Ryan Hitchcock, Branden Colvin and Daniel Prien, who have seemingly not yet been found.