<\/p>\n
PENN HILLS, Penn. – The parking lot apparently tore in half right in front of a Penn Hills apartment building, leaving more than a dozen cars in a giant hole and nearly 50 people displaced.<\/p>\n
PHOTOS: Penn Hills parking lot collapses<\/p>\n
“It looked like it split right down the middle in kind of a V formation the 50 yards,” Penn Hills Police Chief Ronald Como said.<\/p>\n
Como says the Frankstown Road car park fell 15 to 20 feet shortly before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.<\/p>\n
“When the emergency vehicles responded, there was a woman in a car,” Como said.<\/p>\n
That person was Alex Bowens.<\/p>\n
“I was backing up to park and I heard a noise,” he said. “I paused for a minute because I thought it was loud thunder, or I hit a gate that was damaged”<\/p>\n
In a split second, Bowens and his car fell.<\/p>\n
“Things were getting into my car and into my eyes,” he said.<\/p>\n
Bowens got out with the help of a sheriff’s office and is fine, but his car wasn’t so lucky.<\/p>\n
Now Bowens and nearly 50 others are displaced<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat will I do without my house?\u201d he asked. “At least I still have a job.”<\/p>\n
Como told Channel 11 there was an abandoned warehouse that could be accessed through the apartment under the parking lot, where squatters may have lived.<\/p>\n
Emergency crews are checking to see if anyone is under the concrete.<\/p>\n
The building’s structural integrity will also be checked before anyone can re-enter, Como doesn’t have a timeline on how long that will take. The cause of the collapse is also under investigation.<\/p>\n
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