dahunan
Lifer
Does all this doom and gloom as of late just make you want to stay home with family or make you recnsider how fragile our lives really are
Hyattsville, Md., Feb 22 ? The roof of a Toys ?R? Us store collapsed during a downpour in suburban Washington, injuring at least three people and trapping an unknown number of people inside.
IT?S UNCLEAR how many people are inside the store in the Landover Hills area.
?There is a strong possibility that we have customers who may have been shopping inside the store that were not able to escape,? said Prince George?s County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady.
He said all of the store?s employees had been accounted for and three were taken to hospitals with cuts and bruises, but there was no count of customers.
Rescue crews were trying to search the building but were worried about the stability of the fallen roof, Brady said. Thermal imaging equipment and rescue dogs were being brought in to help with the search.
About 90 percent of the roof, from the cash registers to the back, collapsed at about 11:45 a.m., a time when the store was busy with customers, Brady said. He said employees had no more than a second of warning.
The collapse of the roof came amid a second day of heavy rain and followed a major snowfall. Brady said the combination of the flat roof on the free-standing store and all the snow and rain created a ?disaster waiting to happen.?
Hugh Harris, fire marshall at the West Lanham Hills Fire Department, told NBC News that rescue teams and 12 medical units have been sent to the scene.
He said the store had been open for about four hours, so he thinks there are customers trapped inside.
The D.C. fire department is also sending a team to the scene.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS STORY. CHECK BACK SOON FOR UPDATES.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/875969.asp
Hyattsville, Md., Feb 22 ? The roof of a Toys ?R? Us store collapsed during a downpour in suburban Washington, injuring at least three people and trapping an unknown number of people inside.
IT?S UNCLEAR how many people are inside the store in the Landover Hills area.
?There is a strong possibility that we have customers who may have been shopping inside the store that were not able to escape,? said Prince George?s County Fire Department spokesman Mark Brady.
He said all of the store?s employees had been accounted for and three were taken to hospitals with cuts and bruises, but there was no count of customers.
Rescue crews were trying to search the building but were worried about the stability of the fallen roof, Brady said. Thermal imaging equipment and rescue dogs were being brought in to help with the search.
About 90 percent of the roof, from the cash registers to the back, collapsed at about 11:45 a.m., a time when the store was busy with customers, Brady said. He said employees had no more than a second of warning.
The collapse of the roof came amid a second day of heavy rain and followed a major snowfall. Brady said the combination of the flat roof on the free-standing store and all the snow and rain created a ?disaster waiting to happen.?
Hugh Harris, fire marshall at the West Lanham Hills Fire Department, told NBC News that rescue teams and 12 medical units have been sent to the scene.
He said the store had been open for about four hours, so he thinks there are customers trapped inside.
The D.C. fire department is also sending a team to the scene.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS STORY. CHECK BACK SOON FOR UPDATES.
http://www.msnbc.com/news/875969.asp
