NY Daily News
A giant wind turbine in the Bronx fell from its mast Monday, taking out a billboard and crushing a parked car.
No one was hurt in the 1:20 p.m. incident at Baychester Ave. and Bartow Ave. in Co-Op City.
“It sounded like a cling and then a thud -- like a bing, and then boom,” said CJ Smith, 23, who heard the turbine come down as he headed to his job at a nearby Starbucks.
A massive metal cylinder from the turbine fell onto a parked sedan, crushing its hood.
Eric Johnson, 55, of Co-op City, said the turbine went up about two weeks ago, and he hasn’t yet seen it spin.
“If
somebody got killed... coming out the store, somebody has to pay for
that," Johnson said. “They didn’t take into account the wind being so
strong to bring it down.”
The city Buildings Department issued a stop-work order and a full vacate order for a building at the collapse site that houses a Drugbox Pharmacy, a Sherwin Williams Paint store and a 7 Eleven.
“Due to partial collapse of a large monopole sign structure, the entire property (buildings and lot) are unsafe to use or occupy,” the order reads.
And Co-op City's residents are just ecstatic to see it down
NY Daily News
Some Co-Op City residents are looking on the bright side of a frightening turbine collapse – it’ll finally remove an eyesore they’ve complained about for years.
The towering turbine damaged an electronic billboard when it toppled Monday, prompting the city Department of Buildings to order its removal.
Co-Op City residents had complained the sign shined into their apartments at night. They were also steamed about the turbine that sat atop a 195-foot “monopole,” which they’d criticized as unsafe — and ugly. Nevertheless, the building owner obtained proper permits for both structures.
“We couldn’t stop him, so Mother Nature took it down,” Hattie Overman told the Daily News.
The
self-proclaimed “proud senior citizen” living in the development since
1998, said the turbine made her uncomfortable before its blades went
flying in high winds, destroying a car and taking a chunk out of a
billboard. The structure, which stood in the middle of a one-story
commercial building with three storefronts, loomed over the nearby New
England Thruway and Bay Plaza Shopping Center.
