Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Skyscraper windows damaged by winds

Strong Winds Damage Skyscraper Windows in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) -- Gusts of high winds shattered glass windows on two Manhattan skyscrapers Monday night, raining glass on parts of midtown Manhattan.

The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory, saying winds are 40 miles an hour and gusting to 50 miles an hour in the New York metro area.

Police closed West 40th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues and Sixth Avenue near West 55th Street, after glass showered the streets during the evening rush hour.


2 Are Hurt in New York by Debris From Towers


Wind gusts knocked glass or debris from two skyscrapers in Midtown yesterday afternoon, including the new building that houses The New York Times. In each case, a pedestrian was reported to have been injured.

Glass was also reported to have fallen from a bank building in Passaic, N.J.

In all three cases, the police cordoned off areas near the buildings as a precaution.

Officials also blamed the wind for the collapse of a wall at a construction site in Brooklyn.


Why were glass and walls that cannot withstand 50mph winds installed in the first place?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

When the W.R. Grace Building
first went up on the north side of 42nd Street
(between 5th & 6th Aves.)
its curved facade looked dramatic and sexy
(just like 9 West 57th Street).

That was until panes of glass started popping out during windstorms!
(At the time, I worked just 3 doors away
and was scared enough not to walk near it
during high wind gusts).

And that all happened in the late 1960s......
early enough for every builder in NYC
to learn some lessons!

But I guess their attitude is....
your ass is glass !

Anonymous said...

Crap.....
I'd hate to be caught in the Javits Center
when somebody cracks some wicked wind !

The metal framing of that building
has got to be deteriorating with age by now.

I wonder just how secure all that glass is !

Anonymous said...

Those glass residences are just such a stupid idea. How can real people in such places? If you don't pick your nose on the street like Germans, why would you want your home nose picking and worse to be visible from outside.

verdi said...

True.....
people who live in glass houses shouldn't
scratch their asses in full view.

verdi said...

On second thought.....
ALL politicians
(particularly the Gallagher types)
should be required to have the walls
of their district offices
constructed entirely out of glass .


That would put a big dent
in any crooked or amorous activities
that they might have in mind!