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Crane Crashes Down in Manhattan

Aired May 30, 2008 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris at CNN world headquarters in Atlanta.

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Randi Kaye, in today for Heidi Collins.

Breaking news out of New York. You've been watching it. Within the last hour, a massive crane has toppled from a high rise on Manhattan East Side. Fire crews say they have pulled people from the wreckage that has swallowed the sidewalks and city streets below.

There is no word yet on casualties.

The crane apparently slammed into a ledge on its way down and unleashed a huge amount of debris.

HARRIS: Boy, just an amazing scene as we've been following with our team with "AMERICAN MORNING." A couple of things here come to mind and maybe we should recap just a moment here. Some eyewitness accounts.

First, from a bus driver -- a bus driver, her name Florence, speaking to John Roberts and Kyra Phillips just, oh, inside the last half hour, reporting seeing the crane collapse and the crane operator going down with that crane. At the time anywhere from 20 to 25 people in the area of the collapse.

The bus driver was not quite sure. Seemed to believe that not everyone cleared the collapsing crane. Clearly we've been watching firefighters working diligently over that scene trying to extricate at least one person from that debris.

The building -- we're still checking the name of the building that you see here that was damaged. Early indications is that it's the Electra Apartment building. We're still working to make absolutely sure of that.

But again, Randi, as you've described, there was a construction worker. His name is Anthony, speaking with "AMERICAN MORNING" just a couple minutes ago, who talked about -- they were working on the building that was under construction and then seeing the crane collapse, moving and collapsing into this second building, the apartment structure known to us at least at this point as the Electra...

KAYE: Right.

HARRIS: And then the crane just collapsed into the ground.

KAYE: And this apparently happened at about 8:15 this morning. We're not sure -- that would be Eastern Time, New York time.

HARRIS: Yes.

KAYE: At this point we're not sure if the building that the crane was working with was even inhabited. We don't know if anybody was living there yet.

HARRIS: Exactly. Exactly.

KAYE: We were told by that bus driver Florence that this was a new building under construction, so we're not sure if anybody would have been in that building at the time. Certainly at 8:15 in the morning, if anybody was living there, likely getting ready to leave to work.

HARRIS: Yes.

KAYE: Maybe having their morning coffee when this happened. So -- but we are learning that it is the Electra, at least, that we know...

HARRIS: OK.

KAYE: ... that the crane has collapsed on.

HARRIS: Well, Randi, Brooke Hawkins is one of our people -- one of our -- at least she's one of our associate producers out of New York. She was working the night shift last night. And when this crane -- this crane collapse happened, she was very close to the location, the site.

Here is a bit of her conversation with John Roberts, "AMERICAN MORNING," just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE HAWKINS, NEAR SCENE OF CRANE COLLAPSE: I'm just seeing a bunch of police officers. I -- when I first walked down I'm -- right now I'm seeing an ambulance. I'm seeing (INAUDIBLE) pulled away, pulled into -- towards where the wreckage is.

When I first walked up, I saw a stretcher walking that way. I asked a few of the police officers if there was anyone who was injured, and they shooed me away and wouldn't tell me any information.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Right.

HAWKINS: But all I'm really seeing is just a bunch of police officers walking around and just a bunch of wreckage. And it seems like everyone is just kind of walking around trying to assess everything and see if there's anyone who is able to be saved. ROBERTS: We're just getting information from the New York City Fire Department. Now apparently they're trying to extricate two people from the wreckage.

Brooke, where were you when the collapse happened?

HAWKINS: I was in bed. I live actually in the middle of the block between 1st and 2nd, and just a block away from this. So...

ROBERTS: Did you hear anything when that crane came down?

HAWKINS: I heard a bunch of noise and I heard a lot of ambulances and there's a big commotion, but I actually was sound asleep, so this definitely did wake me up.

ROBERTS: Yes. Well, we should mention you work the late shift, so no wonder that you were sleeping fairly soundly. But tremendous noise there as that crane came down.

Have you seen them taking any injured people away at this point, Brooke? You said you saw a stretcher being rushed toward the scene.

HAWKINS: I saw the stretcher. I'm going to go walk into the middle of the street and see if I can look straight down towards where it is. Looks like there's another ambulance that is arriving, or is that a new fire vehicle? But they definitely have shifted more emergency vehicles closer towards where the accident is. And they're trying to shove everyone out of the middle of the 1st Avenue.

ROBERTS: Right. You can see in that close-up picture there just a real tangled mess of crane parts, material -- building material from the apartment building itself, the twisted wrought iron from some of the balcony railings that this crane...

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: All right. Why don't with you jump out of that? Great, thanks, Michael.

Jumping out of the taped interview from "AMERICAN MORNING" with Brooke Hawkins. She is on the line with us live right now.

And, Brooke, if you would, let me push us forward here to the scene we saw just a short time ago. We saw a number of firefighters surrounding a stretcher. Can you -- I don't want to make assumptions based on the picture from the sky, but you're there on the ground. Can you fill in any of the blanks in describing that scene we saw just a few moments ago?

HAWKINS: Yes, I've actually -- I've actually moved and I'm now standing in the middle of the block on 91st Street just looking directly at the crane. And all I'm seeing is that people -- it doesn't look as chaotic as it did when I first got here. I do know that they have pulled one person out. I don't know if they've pulled a second. You know, it's like be able to (INAUDIBLE) is a little bit better. But it does seem a little bit more -- sense on the scene is a little bit calmer like they're just trying to be very methodical about trying to get everyone else away.

HARRIS: Yes.

HAWKINS: They have blocked off and pushed us a little bit further away from the scene and more and more building inspectors seem to be coming in and not emergency crews.

HARRIS: OK. And -- but to my question as to whether or not -- can you describe that scene we were watching of the person being pulled out of that debris? Placed on a stretcher. Can you fill in any of the blanks on that? Do we know who that was?

There's some -- there is a suggestion that it might be the crane operator. Can you help us with that reporting?

HAWKINS: Yes, you know, I don't know who specifically that was that you guys saw being pulled away.

HARRIS: OK.

HAWKINS: I did hear some people who were talking and saying that they hoped that it was not.

HARRIS: OK.

HAWKINS: But no one seems to really know specifically who that was. There were -- I mean, it is a very busy corner and there were people walking along during the time of the collapse.

HARRIS: All right. All right. Let me move forward just a bit here. Can you help orient us where -- for folks who were just joining us, they're seeing these pictures of 91st Street and 1st Ave, but if you would, orient us a little bit better here.

The crane was working on one building and the building next to it is the building that was damaged. Is that correct?

HAWKINS: Yes. It looks like they're building apartment or condo complex across -- it's on the -- let's see what that say -- northwest corner of 90th, 91st and 1st. But it looks like the crane kind of moved south and it fell on the apartment complex that's just directly across the street.

HARRIS: Yes, that helps.

HAWKINS: You guys are probably seeing that aerial.

HARRIS: Yes.

HAWKINS: And just -- let's see, that's -- so that's the southwest corner of the street. And I know that I've walked past this way and they do a lot of work along 1st Avenue. So I'm sure that the crane was probably closer on 1st Avenue and not necessarily on...

HARRIS: Great. All right, Brooke, if -- let's leave it for there. We'll give you an opportunity to do some more work on this story. When you've got some more information, just give us a heads up.

Brooke Hawkins for us this morning at the site of this crane collapse.

KAYE: And Tony, we are absolutely able to confirm now that the building that was hit is called the Electra. All of this is happening at 91st and -- 91st Street and 1st Avenue. And this is the building that is at 354 East 91st Street under -- this is not the building that was under construction apparently. This is the building that the crane actually collapsed on.

We're also getting word the Associated Press is reporting that one person is dead. We have seen some folks on stretchers this morning being taken out of there, taken out of that wreckage and that rubble, and you can see from the damage that may not surprise many people here. But, again, the AP is reporting at least one person dead.

We also have another person who's joining us from the scene there on the phone. His name is Scott Stringer. He's the Manhattan Borough president.

Hello, Scott, thanks for joining us.

SCOTT STRINGER, MANHATTAN BOROUGH PRESIDENT: Hey, how are you?

KAYE: I'm well, thank you. Certainly better off than many of the folks there...

STRINGER: Yes.

KAYE: ... on that corner and many in Manhattan today. Can you bring us up-to-date on the very latest there? What do you know?

STRINGER: Yes, you -- I'm not directly on the scene, but I can confirm that we have some loss of life and yet another building collapse in the borough of Manhattan and it is an absolute tragedy and we're trying to get our arms around just how extensive the injuries are going to be.

But, as you know, New York City -- when you work with our fire and police departments and our emergency services, nobody is better than securing an area and making sure that everybody who's injured and hurt gets the help they need.

And what you're seeing played out is our emergency service people really locking down this area and I would just urge people to stay away from the scene and get away from 91st Street so that they can do their work.

KAYE: And Scott, do you know if the family of this person who we lost was -- has been notified and if they haven't, don't give us any information on who this person is.

STRINGER: Yes, I know...

KAYE: But do you know have they been?

STRINGER: I know -- I don't know. This just happened not that long ago and right now I think the first priority is let's just find out if anybody's trapped and what we have to do to get them out.

KAYE: Right. Do you know -- is there any word on the crane operator? We've been told by a couple of witnesses that they've seen the crane operator go down in the crane.

STRINGER: We have no information about any of the victims, but I'm sure that will come out in the next couple of hours. Obviously, you don't want to say anything prematurely because there is family and friends and people that have to be contacted if anything terrible has happened to somebody.

KAYE: And is there any indication of how many people might still be trapped in there?

STRINGER: No, but it's clear that they've secured the area and there's a lot of work going on so my sense is -- we hope and pray that this will be limited. You have to be prepared to go and then try to find everybody. That's been our experience in, fortunately, some other sites in f Manhattan.

But it's way too early even to speculate. Right now we just got to make sure people do their jobs and the New York City government is going to have to answer a whole lot of questions as to why this continues to happen in our borough.

KAYE: Absolutely. This is the second time this has happened in just a couple of months now. Just a couple months ago at 51st -- between 1st Avenue and 2nd Avenue where seven people died.

STRINGER: And there's been a whole lot more other tragedies that have not gotten that kind of coverage. But this is something that we're going to have to come to terms with and the city...

KAYE: Well, what are the rules? What are the laws in terms of these cranes and these works that's going on in protecting the people that are living there?

STRINGER: Well, we -- you know, we've enjoyed the tremendous development boom. And it's obviously made -- has helped New York a lot especially after the tragedy of 9/11, but I think that we have not really set a crane safety regimen that's protecting people and we've had these tragedies.

So it's obviously way to early to speculate nor would I until we figure out what exactly happened at the site and the first priority has to be making sure we help our injured. And obviously, this is something that we're going to grapple with as the city government for many, many weeks. KAYE: Any idea why this happened yet or is just too early to tell?

STRINGER: Way too early to tell.

KAYE: Tony Harris is also here with us, Scott. He has a question for you as well.

STRINGER: And Scott Stringer is on the line with us. He is the Manhattan Borough president.

And Scott, as already mentioned the second time, recently that tragedy has visited your borough. In response to the crane accident at 51st Street, correct me if I'm wrong here, didn't the city require that when cranes needed to make moves, for example, to begin work a new floor, there needed to be an inspector on site?

STRINGER: Yes, and what we can confirm to you -- those inspectors were just removed. They were never intended to be permanent and it may be that these inspectors were moved way prematurely.

Again, I don't have any specific information. My office is now trying to get a sense of what exactly happened. And I don't want to put something out that may not be accurate. But it may appear that there was not an inspector on site dealing with this development. And if that's the case, then we're going to know soon enough.

HARRIS: Well, Scott, let me follow on that. I'll give you an opportunity if you want to correct the record later call us back and do that.

STRINGER: Sure.

HARRIS: Is it true that that requirement was relaxed just this week, as recently as Wednesday?

STRINGER: I believe that to be true. And, again I don't want to confirm that because I haven't seen the paper, but if that, in fact, is the case, then that would be a very bad mistake.

HARRIS: OK. Scott, anything else that you think is important in telling the story that we should know? I'm think about next steps for the city. I don't want to jump too far ahead here.

But if you're talking about two major accidents in just a couple of months where you have seen and experienced loss of life here in both of these occurrences, is it time for something of a moratorium on construction?

Maybe you're building too much too quickly without enough safe guards in place.

STRINGER: No -- I mean I think if we stop construction in a vibrant city, the entire city government should be fire so that means that we're not doing the job. I think that building apartments in the city is simply not (INAUDIBLE) to resources to come up with a safety regimen that works.

The new commissioner -- remember the other one was fired -- actually has made real strides and has really had this wit and determination to deal with this. But it's more than one agency. It's an entire government that must be mobilized to deal with what is a very difficult notion, building huge buildings in a dense crowded borough and dense crowded city.

And when you exhibit these kinds of accidents and loss of life, you need a mobilization and that's what I'm going to be fighting for, that's what I tried to, you know, get out there for many, many months.

HARRIS: Scott, you seem to be making my argument that perhaps there is too much building going on right now, too much too fast without enough safe guards. You seem to...

STRINGER: Well, I agree with you. It is too much...

HARRIS: OK.

STRINGER: It is too much too fast, but the answer is not to shut town, the answer is to make it safer. And in 2008, we should be able to do that.

HARRIS: Maybe shut it -- maybe you shut it down for a while until you can make it safer?

STRINGER: Well, people are going to make their argument. I mean, obviously -- you know I think we should give -- obviously the first priority right now today is to give it our sights, but I sense that a lot of people like yourself and others are going to be looking at these kind of issues both in New York and around the country.

I'm going to certainly have my opinions about it.

HARRIS: OK, Scott, let's leave it there.

Scott Stringer is the Manhattan Bureau --- Borough president.

Scott, thanks for your time.

KAYE: We also want to tell you know. We have some new information on the building where this crane was actually mounted as we continue to look at these live pictures coming out of New York City's Upper East Side.

The building where the crane was actually mounted and working is called the Azure. It's A-Z-U-R-E. It was -- it's located at 1765 1st Avenue. That's on the very Upper East Side for those of who you might not be familiar with that area right there on 1st Avenue making your way towards the East River.

We spoke with that company that owns the building, the developer. They said that they knew nothing about the crane operator or his condition. They apparently had no further comment for us, but they do have a team en route to that site and will be -- we expect them to be making a statement sometime around noon Eastern Time.

We also want to just recap exactly what's happened here. The Associated Press is reporting that at least one person is dead. This crane collapsed about 8:15 Eastern Time this morning. Fell on a nearby building and that building is called the Electra. That is located on East 91st Street.

We want to join now our affiliate coverage, WABC in New York.

Let's listen to their live coverage.

UNIDENTIFIED WABC REPORTER: You look at the very top of this building. I remember Lorie(ph) talking with that first eyewitness that mentioned how hard the crane struck the top of this building. If we zoom on down, you'll see firefighters up there right now operating in that rubble. Where they're standing right now, that was an apartment and the roof is gone, the walls are gone.

So they are pretty much standing inside of someone's apartment trying to shore up some loose debris. You can see them just -- whatever they can move by hand, they're that throwing that inside. But some of the heavier equipments, too, they'll gut up there, they'll fasten that with chains and cables, anything to prevent any more debris from going over the side because this is directly over the accident site.

So you've got the initial -- as you said, Phil(ph), the initial search and rescue response, they got in. They accounted for everyone and then they moved out because that's still a danger zone with all this loose debris above them. They're not going to stay down there unless they absolutely have to.

So they have moved out of that collapsed zone. We can call it the collapsed zone. They've moved out. They've let the firefighters and construction workers get in here and start to shore up some of this loose debris.

And this is also a dangerous job. You think of cables and everything from electric to waterlines and gas lines, and of that that runs through a building, and this is -- this operation is just getting under way, believe me. They'll be out here for quite a while.

KAYE: You've been listening there to live coverage from our affiliate in New York City, WABC, giving us the very latest on what they are seeing from the air.

You can see that crews are still working on...

HARRIS: Yes.

KAYE: ... going through the debris there on the building that was hit, the Electra. Still looking apparently for people who might have been trapped in there -- Tony.

HARRIS: I think that's the -- that's the concern right now, is everyone accounted for at this point in time? And that's painstaking work that's going on right now. And firefighters are fast and hard at it as you can see. That is -- you heard just a moment ago -- is a penthouse suite. Penthouse apartment suite there.

It took the brunt of the collapse of that crane and the crane just sort of toppled to the ground. There were real concerns for the safety and well being of the crane operator. We heard from a bus driver who was in that area at the time of the collapse that the crane came tumbling down, if you can sort of imagine that, and that the -- boy, that the crane operator went down with it.

Anywhere from 20, 25 people in that surrounding area at the time of the collapse. And...

KAYE: Yes, and at that time, I mean, I can tell you from living and working in New York, those streets are packed. So anybody...

HARRIS: Yes.

KAYE: ... who would have been on their way to work at that hour of the day certainly would have seen what was happening and possibly even been caught up in it at that point.

HARRIS: Yes, I think the other thing -- the other part of the story, once we've been given the all-clear that everyone's been accounted for and there are no other injuries attached to this, is moving forward.

And Randi, you live in that city. You were there just a couple months ago when the crane collapsed at 51st Street. There is so much -- and we were talking about this earlier, there is so much construction going on right now in New York City. You're always seemingly walking under some project, some scaffolding.

And boy, you have to walk on a bit of tender hooks right now because you see what's happened over the last couple of months.

KAYE: Yes, I mean there's always building under way there, as Scott Stringer, the Manhattan Borough president, was telling us. It's -- there's constant frenzy of cranes and scaffolding going up and coming down, and that collapse just a couple months ago was just a couple miles south of this.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

KAYE: Also on the east side and just outside Midtown. Midtown East is it's called, 51st -- between 1st and 2nd Avenue. Seven people dead there.

HARRIS: That's right.

KAYE: A brown stone completely destroyed. So -- and he said, you know, there have been many more since then and before then that just haven't gotten the coverage that these cases are apparently getting so.

HARRIS: Well, we want to circle back and let you hear some of the eyewitness accounts to this tragedy. Are we going to talk to -- hear from Florence? Is Florence ready to go? Oh, in a moment? OK.

Michael Schuman providing an iReport, Maybe it's an opportunity -- seeming that the immediate crisis seems to have abated a bit and police and firefighters have been able to at least cordoned off that area, maybe there is an opportunity now for iReporters, for you, to help us out in telling this story by providing some of these pictures.

Look at this scene from Michael Schuman. He was able to capture this -- one of our iReporters -- of the twisted debris from that crane. Some of the debris from the building, as well, on the ground there at 91st and 1st.

A live view now from WABC high above the building. The Azure was the building under construction. Is that correct, Randi?

KAYE: That is correct. That's on 91st Street there. That is where the crane was actually mounted. The crane that fell was on the Azure, which is at the -- right on 1st Avenue actually and then the building that it hit, the Electra, was on East 91st.

HARRIS: OK. Let's give you an opportunity to listen to someone who's on the ground when it happened. A bus driver, her name is Florence, describing what she saw, what she witnessed, on "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLORENCE, BUS DRIVER WITNESS TO CRANE COLLAPSE: I was almost going to be making my turn and the light was red, so I slowed down. And I wasn't looking up, I was just looking like midway in the street. And I just saw all the crane come down the middle of the street. It was like something out of a movie. I couldn't believe the crane had fell. And I also seen the guy that was operating the crane go down with it.

It was just one guy and it was people in the street, and when the crane started to fall, people just started scattering, because this is a very, very busy corner of 91st and 1st on the East Side.

ROBERTS: Oh, my goodness. So you saw the crane operator come down with the top of that crane there.

How many people were in the street at the time when this collapse happened?

FLORENCE: Well, I would just give a quick estimation, it's rush hour, it's very busy corner, at least 20 to 25 people were in the hit area. That was difficult.

ROBERTS: Did you happen to -- and I know that this is difficult, did you happen to see take there were any people who did not escape from underneath that crane as it came down?

FLORENCE: It looks like some people did not make it away. And it looks like it might have been workers. At this time, we're not sure, you know, we're not I was there on the scene, it was very raw, everything was raw, but debris and stuff was falling all around.

So naturally we thought that the crane -- there was a possibility that it would fall. So immediately I had to evacuate my bus -- whoever else was on the bus with me, because I was approaching my last stop, which is actually on 1st and 91st.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Florence, do you, by chance, know the name of that apartment building, that high rise?

FLORENCE: No. Actually, I do know the name, but right now, I'm sorry, I can't think of it. It's a new building that's going up.

PHILLIPS: So it's a newer building that has been -- OK. So if it's a newer building that was going up, do you know if anybody was living inside that high rise? Or is it...

FLORENCE: No, the one on the opposite side of the street was fully occupied with people. It took some of the terraces, windows, and people's bedrooms and everything.

When the crane started falling from the top, I didn't see it. But when it reached the center, it started tearing up the people's terraces and going through their house. It's just a really bad scene over here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: And that was one of our eyewitnesses on the ground there speaking with John Roberts and Kyra Phillips on "AMERICAN MORNING" this morning.

We have since then confirmed the location and the buildings where this has all occurred. The corner is 91st Street and 1st Avenue on Manhattan's Upper East Side. The building where the crane was mounted is the Azure at -- 1765 1st Avenue, and that crane apparently fell on a building that was located on 91st Street, the Electra, causing some pretty severe damage there on the penthouse.

We understand the crane operator was in the crane, according to people who we have spoken with there on the ground when this crane fell. We've also been able to confirm one person dead at this time.

CNN Radio's Steve Kastenbaum is at the scene for us this morning.

And, Steve, what can you tell us?

STEVE KASTENBAUM, CNN RADIO: Well, Randi, there is a massive emergency services response still under way here. There are dozens and dozens of firefighters and police officers around a 10-foot high pile of rubble on 91st Street and 1st Avenue. It is a mix of twisted metal and building debris.

All of that debris that came down from that apartment building that's over 30 stories tall. The apartment building that you've been seeing the pictures of where the crane took out part of the penthouse and some of the corner apartments on the way down were hit by the crane where the boom of the crane itself.

The cab is clearly visible on the ground on 91st Street here. For a while, the firefighters were very -- anxiously going through the debris looking for any people that they could find or see and extricate them as quickly as possible. They since have pulled off of the pile a little bit. I'm not sure if that has to do with the stability of it or whether they feel that they were able to get to everybody who was underneath this -- the wreckage here.

KAYE: Do we know, Steve, if anyone was in that building, the Electra, when the crane came down on it?

KASTENBAUM: The Electra -- I'm not sure which building is which but the occupied building that was damaged by the crane...

KAYE: Right. That's the Electra.

KASTENBAUM: That's the Electra. There were definitely people still inside that building. Now we're talking a little bit after 8:00. In the Upper East Side it's only about a 15-minute train ride at most from Midtown, so there were certainly still people inside getting ready for their busy workday.

And we had already gotten e-mails at CNN from some people who were inside the building saying that it felt like a thunderous earthquake when the crane had collapsed. We are trying to get in touch with some of those people right now, but it's -- imagine it's a pretty chaotic scene here.

There are still emergency units arriving here as we speak. We continue to hear sirens in the distance as these units arrive.

KAYE: There seems to be a great concern for this crane operator. You said that you were able to seat cab there. Can you give us anymore on the condition of that cab?

KASTENBAUM: It's really hard to tell what's what in this pile of debris other than what was clearly the outline of the cab unit. You know, this is the part that rests high atop the metal structure above the building under construction.

You can see that the boom arm, parts of it, twisted on the street, as well, But I really can't give you a good description of the actual cab itself because I'm about a block away right now. All I can tell you is what I could see what was definitely the boom box itself, the cab itself, rather, where the crane operator would have been sitting if he was inside the crane.

Now these construction sites around the city, they get moving shortly after 7:00 a.m. It gets really busy around then. So there were most certainly construction workers already on site. We did hear some of the reports from witnesses on the scene that they saw construction workers on the ground around the crane at the time that it fell. So there were certainly men here already at work on this building.

Still not really clear on whether or not the crane operator has been accounted for at this point.

KAYE: And Steve, before we let you go, give me an idea, the Azure, which is the building that the crane was mounted on, the building that was under construction, how tall of a building is this? How far would this crane possibly have fallen?

KASTENBAUM: Well, I can't -- I can't really tell right now how tall that building was because it is under construction. I can tell you that the building that the crane fell on is well over 30 stories tall. It's about 34, 35 stories high from the way I counted. And the building across the street was definitely up there in that range still under construction.

I really can't tell you how many stories it is because of the way it appears right now in that construction process. But...

KAYE: Right. We're looking at a picture right there. We just set up a picture of the Electra before this happened, located there on East 91st Street.

It's actually 23 floors, Steve. We just had up a picture of the Electra before this happened located there on East 91st Street. It's actually 23 floors, Steve. We've just been able to confirm, just getting word on that. Finish what you were saying there.

KASTENBAUM: What I can tell you, though, that it's really shocking to folks here on the Upper East Side that this happened. Just two months after another crane collapsed and took the lives of seven people as we reported about here on CNN.

Everybody here wanting to know how could this happen again and so soon after that other accident. All of the cranes in the city were supposed to be inspected. There were emergency inspections that were taking place on all of the cranes at these high rise buildings under construction.

In fact, there was a lot of fallout in the buildings department as a result of that previous crane collapse. So of course lots of people here are wondering how could this have happened again so soon. Again, we have the reports of this being a deadly incident. We're trying to find out again if there were people on the ground walking on the sidewalk when this crane came down. And if so, were they able to get out of the way. Very, very shocking experience here on the Upper East Side, that is very upsetting to the folks here on First Avenue.

KAYE: I'm sure, Steve. Good work, Steve Kastenbaum from CNN radio there for us on the scene this morning. Thank you for all of that information. Be sure to keep us up-to-date if you're getting anymore word there on the ground. Once again, confirming one person dead.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: So, Randi, Bridget Barrett is on the phone with us right now and she lives two buildings down from this tragedy. This deadly crane collapse.

Bridget, thanks for your time this morning. Describe the scene as it unfolded before your eyes.

VOICE OF BRIDGET BARRETT, ONE OF THE FIST PEOPLE AT SCENE: Right. My roommate and I were just leaving the building. I live two buildings next to it. And, you know, we heard a loud crash as I was walking down my stairwell and I went to my front door of the building and it was all white smoke everywhere.

And I was nervous to open the door but I didn't. I went outside and the scene was, you know, eerily quiet with a lot of shouting and the crane had fallen in the middle of the street and was on fire. And it had torn the facade after the Electra building including, you know, balconies and a couple walls. And there was just water spewing out of the apartment building all over the place.

And you know, I dialed 911 and they sent fire trucks there immediately. They got there within about two minutes. And basically, you know, it was just a very chaotic scene. Everyone was really scared. You know, I'm nervous that people were hurt and just a general around chaotic scene. And you know, people had their heads -- the fire -- the construction workers put it out with a fire extinguisher and just that it was really scary.

HARRIS: Boy. Bridget, so you make the call to 911. I mean, what do you do at that point? Do you investigate it a little more? Do you try to get out of the way? What do you do after you do the right thing, which is to call for help?

BARRETT: Basically, you know, I wanted to leave it up to the professionals being a 24-year-old woman who has nothing to do with health related. Anything, I just tried to stay, you know, toward my building out of the way, you know, let the professionals come and take care of it. And you know, luckily, the construction workers had the equipment on hand to put out the fire and then, you know, the firemen came and hopefully they were able to take care of this if anyone was hurt.

HARRIS: Let me ask a touchy question here. In the aftermath with the recent history of New York City, you begin to hear these sounds, what are your thoughts? Where do your thoughts take you?

BARRETT: Well, I live on the top floor of my building. And you know, after this collapse happened a couple months ago down in Midtown, you know, my roommate and I would look out the window. You know, that's really scary because just this morning as I was getting ready, they were lifting something up maybe ten feet outside my building. You know, outside my window. And that for me is just normal because this construction has been going on for almost a year now.

And so it was normal for me, even when I heard the noise, it was loud, but I was in my building so it didn't seem like it was out of the norm. But you know, my roommate was like, you know, she was up there still so she thought it was out of the ordinary. And for me, it's just kind of baffling that this happened again because, you know, it's really unnerving because I've seen that crane for the past couple months. Of course, I thought about, you know, what if it fell on my building or buildings around me and I just kind of dismissed it because there's no way that could happen after it had already happened once. But, you know.

HARRIS: So put us in the mind of a New Yorker these days and with all the construction going on in that city, so many cranes up in the sky, so very high up in the air.

BARRETT: Right.

HARRIS: And so much scaffolding in that city. Are you anxious every time you walk under some of that scaffolding?

BARRETT: Definitely. I mean, even though I hadn't been around the last time it happened, I would walk home and that would be above me and you know, I'd feel the construction workers around me looking up and I would be nervous if it was up there. You know, just given the past history, but you know, given the history of the city, I just moved in here about two years ago from New Jersey, but I'm well aware with everything that's happened in the past.

And when something happens here, you know, people instantly panic and run the other way and it's hard not to get nervous about those things, because if something happens, you don't really know what it is. You just want to make sure that everyone around you is safe and you're safe and getting out of the way, but it's very scary.

HARRIS: So what do you do? Do you go on with your day or do you (INAUDIBLE)?

BARRETT: I'm trying. I'm at work, you know, and I'm trying, but it's hard to concentrate. It's hard not to keep reading the updates. And I'm a little scared to go home thinking about -- you know, perhaps taking the weekend outside the city, just to be away from the whole chaos right there.

HARRIS: If you've been following the updates, you'll now know that one person was killed in that collapse.

BARRETT: Right. Yes. And it's really scary for me because I have a friend who lives in that building and, you know, luckily for me I saw her this morning and was able to know that it's OK, but it's really upsetting.

HARRIS: Bridget, thanks for your time.

BARRETT: No problem.

KAYE: We want to get to our CNN's Jason Carroll who is live at the scene for us, as well, this morning. Dealing with the emergency crews there trying to gather some information.

Jason, what is the latest?

VOICE OF JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wanted to tell you is I'm standing here at 90th and First Avenue, which is one block away from the scene of the crane accident and as can you imagine, there are a number of people who are standing around me.

People who are trying to get back into their building. People who are asking questions about what is going on. There are a number of emergency responders who are standing around me at this point. And quite frankly, they're standing and waiting. Waiting for more instructions about what to do next. I saw one construction worker who was at the scene who ran by me and said the whole thing is going to be shut down. The whole thing is going to be shut down.

A lot of people here are still looking for information. From my vantage point, it is tough to see exactly what is going on at the exact site. Again, I'm one block away. There are number of stretchers here waiting in case those are needed. I also have to tell you, there are a number of angry people around here, as well.

You heard me talking about people asking a number of questions. And I know you heard all the history about what's been going on in the city. About the history of the crane accidents that has been happening here in the city. There were promises made that safety measures were going to be put in to ensure that accidents like what we saw this morning would not happen again. And here we are.

And just to recap in what happened in that last accident, you'll recall seven were killed. I think it was two dozens, some 24 people were hurt, and in that case, what happened was it was a piece of steel that had dropped that was somehow trying to hold that crane in place.

I believe in terms of the investigation, they found that it was human -- still trying, either human or mechanical area. That crane in that accident had damaged six buildings. There is obviously going to be an extensive investigation. This go around to find out was it human error, was it a mechanical error that caused this. Was the crane inspected in the way that it should have been. Were all the safety measures in place? These are a number of questions now that a lot of people are going to be asking as this investigation continues.

KAYE: But Jason, I know you're a block away. But as far as you can tell, it doesn't seem as though they're still looking for people who might have been trapped either in the Electra building which was scattered or even on the ground?

CARROLL: Absolutely. There are a number of EMS workers here who are standing by with stretchers. There are also a number of firefighters, police officers who are here. Again, everyone standing and waiting trying to get word of when to move in. But as you know in situations like this, you've got to make sure that the area is stable. You don't want to cause more injuries as you're trying to find the injured. So I'm sure that's one of the parameters that they're going to be dealing with as they continue with this.

KAYE: All right. Jason Carroll live for us on the scene. Jason, we'll get back to you as news warrants. Thanks so much.

HARRIS: We want to hear from New York City's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg. He is clearly getting all kinds of information and updates on the situation there at 91st and First. Here he is speaking about the situation just moments ago during his radio show on WOR. Let's have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK: And I see that crane collapse, watching it right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has turned into a big issue obviously.

BLOOMBERG: Should be. Should be. You know, we have inspectors out. I mean, construction is dangerous, but this is just unacceptable and intolerable. What happened in this case, I have no idea. We're going to find out. It just happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're right. Just minutes ago.

BLOOMBERG: Let's just pray there was nobody under it and nobody killed. But when something comes down --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know the reaction of the building department after the last couple of crane collapses to make sure that there was an inspector on site anytime a crane was being moved, but those were eased up on, I understand.

BLOOMBERG: Well, --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because it became impractical.

BLOOMBERG: No. When stepping the crane that was when they do it. When they raise it or lower. You know, the city, this enormous amount of construction, and can you have an inspector every place and how many inspectors do you have when you're building, you know, 20- story building. You put one on every floor? This is just unacceptable and we've got to figure out what happened here.

You know, the construction industry obviously, and real estate developers, they don't want you to shut it down. But the bottom line is number one is public safety and we're not going to tolerate any rate of accidents any higher than it absolutely has to be.

There has always been arguments, well -- big company, small company, you know, some of the smaller companies are more dangerous, nonunion, whatever. When we've looked at the numbers, it doesn't seem to be any trend union or nonunion, big or small, if you adjust for the size of the project and the number of projects is within -- it looks pretty consistent.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think crane collapse or what do your experts tell you? They've been fairly rare in the past. We've had to --

BLOOMBERG: Well, the big one was down in the '50s on the East Side and in that case, they were using a nylon kind of belt to hold the brace that keeps -- that they attached, used to attach the tower to the building. And that broke. Whether that's normal approval or normally used, I think they stop that practice. But if it's been used by all these companies around the world, you know --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For a long time, right?

BLOOMBERG: Long time. You can't just stop everything and say, well, you know, there are risks. Although the public walking by shouldn't be at risk. That's the first thing to make sure. And we'll see what happened here. I gather the vertical part of the crane stayed attach to the building the way it's supposed to. This looks like the top came off and I have absolutely no idea whether the people under there or not. Let us pray there aren't, but it was probably a busy intersection -- first and 91st street.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely, sir. All right. Let's talk about -- there's so many things I want to get into here. But guess --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: New York Michael Bloomberg just moments ago go on his radio show. His reaction to the newest, latest, deadly crane collapse this morning -- 91st and First in Manhattan. This is unacceptable, intolerable.

You know, one of the things that we want to be able to do for you is to really sort of give you a view of this intersection. Reynolds Wolf is with us now.

And Reynolds, I know you've been working on maps and gizmos to try to help our viewers around the country get a better sense of where this is actually taking place.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is just typical Manhattan. It's a beautiful area. As you mentioned, Tony, this is First Avenue and 91st Street. What we're going to do is use our Google Earth street view and Brandon Miller, our weather producer is going to help us zoom into this key location. And you can see just this great shot that we have. And using our street view, we zoom in a bit more to this spot and it gives us a good perspective as to how this place would look on any normal day.

You just see the construction site on one side of the street. Now, Brandon, as we scroll around a little bit, you'll see the (INAUDIBLE) store here at the bottom of this building. And then towards the top of the building, we pull away a little bit and there is where we have the damage.

This is again in the pristine condition of the building, but now of course this morning we have an entirely different scenario. This imagery was taken just a few months ago and, again, just a normal a spring day. You see the traffic just coming through or the still image of it anyway. A lot of trees and falling leaves. Things look pretty good. The sun is out and shining.

Weather conditions pretty similar today, but an entirely different scenario -- no doubt. And a story that's going to, of course, keep unfolding as we get through the morning and midday hours.

HARRIS: That is so helpful. That is so helpful for folks around the country to get a better view. So many people have visited New York City. Let's be honest about it. But to give folks a view of that particular intersection where this is happening, that is so helpful. Reynolds, appreciate it. Thanks so much.

KAYE: We want to get now to Nathaniel Hannon. He's on the phone with us, joining us from New York City.

Nathaniel, you live just a couple blocks away. Tell us what you woke up to this morning.

VOICE OF NATHANIEL HANNON, IREPORTER: Well, I woke up to a very large crash. I live at First and 89th and with the crane is sitting in the middle of the intersection at first and 91st. And shortly there after, there were a whole bunch of sirens. Went up to the roof and there was this big twisted gray hunk of metal sitting in the middle of the street.

KAYE: We heard some reports that the crane had actually been -- another I-reporter actually told us the crane had actually been on fire. Did you witness that?

HANNON: If it was on fire, I did not witness it being on fire. I'm standing on the roof looking down at it right now. And I don't see any blackened parts at all, so it could have been on fire, but not the part that's currently sitting in the street.

KAYE: And what did it sound like to you?

HANNON: Just a big crash. The sort of sound you would get when several tons of metal lands from several stories above in the middle of the street.

KAYE: You live in an apartment building there in New York -- First and 89th Street. How -- did your building shake? Could you feel it? I'm not sure how high up you are?

HANNON: I did not feel it at all. But on the other hand, I'm one and a half blocks away, so it would have to be a very considerable amount of weight hitting the streets for me to feel it. Manhattan is made up of (INAUDIBLE).

KAYE: Right. And you've obviously seen this crane before living just a couple of blocks away, I would imagine. Have you given any thought given what happened just this past March with the crane accident and even just in general walking around New York City with all the cranes that work there?

HANNON: Well, things are falling on people all the time around here. One of the problems of having tall buildings. Crane incidents still happens very often. I have friends in Chicago in that business and, you know, from time to time it just happens.

KAYE: We're continuing to get live pictures in from our affiliate WABC there in New York. Does it appear to you, Nathaniel, that it's a bit of controlled chaos at this point. People waiting to see what happens next, or is there still a flurry of activity that you can see?

HANNON: It looks to me as if things have died down. I mean, the police were very good about closing off the street. All the way from First and 89th, all the way up to First and 95th or 94th.

A parking lot (INAUDIBLE), fire vehicle -- the fire department was very, very fast in getting out not just normal fire equipments, but also their emergency disaster recovery services. There were probably 15 or 20 ambulances standing by. And so I'd say that they threw a huge amount of resources at it very quickly much more than was necessary to take care of the problem. (INAUDIBLE).

KAYE: Does any of this surprise you, Nathaniel?

HANNON: No. I think that New York's fire and police departments are very dependable source of people. And they --

KAYE: I mean the collapse in general.

HANNON: And then very well and very quickly.

KAYE: How about the collapse? Did that surprise you?

HANNON: Well, I'm sure that it has surprised people in the apartment building next door. I can look down on the roof of the apartment building next door, and I can tell you that the entire corner apartment on that side of the building is simply gone.

And there's a huge gash across the entire roof at that apartment building. And that's what probably gave them a fairly bad start. But other than that, no, this is sort of one of the things you have to think about as a possibility even if remote when you live in a city like this.

KAYE: You live just two blocks, exactly two blocks south of where this happened. Did you get any type of -- did anybody come by your building, warning you, anything like that, to let you know what had occurred and make sure that everybody was OK?

HANNON: No, I don't think so. I went downstairs and talked to my doorman about it for a couple of seconds. And yes his comment was -- well, another start of a weekend in New York.

KAYE: Yes.

HANNON: Just pretty, pretty normal, I guess.

KAYE: Right, normal, but we are getting words sadly of one fatality. We're not sure who that is. If that was somebody working in the construction there or somebody who had been caught up in the debris on the ground or possibly someone in that Electra building, which is the building that was hit.

Nathaniel Hannon, thanks so much for your I-report.

HARRIS: I have to tell you, Randi, our team at CNN Wires has put together a terrific story on this breaking story right now. This deadly crane collapse at 91st and First Ave in New York City Manhattan.

We'll take a break and we will sort through that. It will really give you a sense of what has happened, what's happening on the ground, and some of the eyewitness accounts such as the great account from our wires team. We'll work through that as we continue our breaking news coverage. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let's give you an update on the breaking news out of New York City. A massive crane has toppled from high rise on Manhattan's East Side. Fire crews say they have pulled people from the wreckage that has literally swallowed the sidewalks and city streets below. Here is what we know right now.

At least one person is confirmed dead. Fire crews are digging through the wreckage searching for others. When the crane toppled, it slammed into an adjacent building and unleashed an avalanche of debris.

In March, another construction crane collapsed in Manhattan. At that time, seven people were killed.

And, again, live pictures now of the scene and I think it's worth commenting on. Clearly, New York City police and New York fire, they have cordoned off that area. Only absolutely necessary personnel are on that scene right now. And as you can see, there is not a lot of work going on down around at the street level. Great. Some people working there now. The cab -- we can barely make out the cab of that crane amid all of that twisted metal and the debris from the apartment building.

The assessment a short time ago, we did see people on top of the Electra in that penthouse apartment suite working their way through the debris there, looking for any additional victims. Haven't updated that scene recently, but I would suspect there may still be some work there. There was some concern about maybe the debris that is still overhanging that that might be loose and might give way.

We'll probably get a shot of that scene later. But our thanks to our affiliate there in New York, WABC, for providing the aerial view, the chopper pilot providing a vivid description of the scene as it was unfolding for us this morning.

And we do want -- we want to get to our Jason Carroll who we spoke with earlier. He was at the emergency crews. He is there on the scene.

And Jason, you have some new information for us.

CARROLL: Absolutely, Randi. I've moved in a little closer now and I'm at 92nd and First. I've had an opportunity to speak to two construction workers who were on site working on that building under construction when the accident happened. One of them, a carpenter, the other, a laborer. Both of their stories the same.

One was on the sixth floor, the other was on the 11th floor. Both of them tell me that everything was going as planned. That there were safety inspectors on site during the entire process. They said everything was fine. All of a sudden, they heard a loud snap. One of them described it as sounding like a tooth pick. They said at that point, they looked up. Somewhere up near the 20th floor, and saw the cab, which is sort of like the metal container that contains the engineer on top of the crane. They said they saw it snap and fall.

When I asked them why did they think something like this would happen, they said they had no idea. Again, they said that there were building inspectors. Given the history of what happened in the city -- that there were building inspectors on site, every single day. They said that everything that they saw in terms of what might be a safety violation, they said that they fixed. They said the site had never been shut down. Things were moving along. And then they said they saw this happen.

When I also asked them about the condition of the engineer who was in that cab -- that's what they call it -- that metal container at the top of the crane. I said what do you know of what happened to him. If he fell as many stories as you say he did. And they said they heard that perhaps that he was OK. Still trying to get more information on that, still trying to get information on that. But, again, speaking with two construction workers who worked for Subaru (ph) Construction -- they said that is the name of the company that they were worked for.

They were working on the Azure building. This is a -- this building had their putting up here on the Upper East Side. They said that they -- one was on the sixth floor, the other at the 11th floor, both of them hearing and seeing the same thing.

Randi?

KAYE: Jason, were they able to tell you anything about this cab operator. How experienced he was? How long he's been there? Anything about him?

CARROLL: They were -- as you can imagine, they didn't want to give away too many details about his personal information, only to say that they saw him up in the cab when he was working. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary when he was up in this cab on top of this crane.

They said everything seemed to be working fine and then all of a sudden, one of them described it -- the carpenter described it as a freak accident. He said he called it a freak accident. He said he called it a freak accident. He said he has no reason to understand why something like this would happen given the conditions that they were working under.

KAYE: All right. Jason Carroll, stay with us. We need to get to some weather.

Tony?

HARRIS: Well, Reynolds Wolf is following the other big story of the morning. If not for the deadly crane collapse, this would have been the story of the morning for us.

Reynolds Wolf is in the severe weather center with a tornado warning.

Reynolds?

WOLF: A tornado watch.

HARRIS: Watch. OK.

WOLF: But it's the second one we've had today. We had one posted earlier for parts of Iowa and now we've got that watch that has been posted for a good part of Illinois. It will be in effect until about 3:00 local time. Already some very intense storms rolling through that part of the world right along the Mississippi River, south of Davenport.

We've seen some intense storms. Not only are we dealing with the threat of some tornadic activity, but at the same time, Tony, the threat of flooding is going to exist for many people in this part of the word. We've had up to three inches of rain in many spot over the last couple of days. Some places up to five. And if that rain continues, that threat of flooding will exist for a good part of the Midwest and also parts of the west (INAUDIBLE) and the great lakes.

OK. All the components today. All the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. This area of low pressure, this funnel of boundary, all coming together to bring us some chances of heavy rains and damaging winds and large hail. And even some tornadoes through the afternoon. That's a look at your forecast. Let's send it back to you at the news desk.

HARRIS: OK, Reynolds, and any other watches or warnings, just let us know.

WOLF: Absolutely.

KAYE: All right. So we are watching the weather, of course, and of course we are also watching this deadly crane collapse on New York City's Upper East Side. Looking there at live pictures. We'll take a quick break and we will continue to update you on the very latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye in today for Heidi Collins.

HARRIS: And I'm Tony Harris. You'll stay informed all day in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's what's on the run down.