Eight people are dead after a three-story building in Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood gave way Wednesday afternoon and fell into an excavation pit next door.
New York’s leaders now face a grim question: Could the disaster have been prevented?
Mayor Zohran Mamdani confirmed the toll Thursday morning in a statement on social media, writing that “there are no words for a loss of this magnitude.” By midmorning, the FDNY said 19 people had been injured, per Gothamist.
Eighteen people were injured, four of them critically. At least seven of the injured are children, and two more children were among those killed. Public schools were closed Wednesday for Veterans Day.
What are New York leaders saying?
Hours earlier, after visiting the scene Wednesday night, Mamdani described the city’s effort as “a whole-of-government response” and praised first responders who “arrived in under a minute and have spent hours working in dangerous and highly technical conditions to rescue New Yorkers.”
He cautioned that “information is changing by the minute.”
After one death had been confirmed, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) wrote Wednesday evening that her heart broke “for the family who lost a loved one.” She said her administration had “offered its full support as authorities investigate what happened.”
Attorney General Letitia James marked the rising toll Thursday morning. “My heart is heavy this morning, as we have now lost eight New Yorkers to this tragic building collapse,” she wrote, adding that she was praying “for those injured, and for the families of those we lost.”
Closer to home, Rep. Yvette Clarke, a Democrat whose district includes Flatbush, said in a statement that her office was in contact with first responders and Community Board 17. Council Member Farah Louis, who represents the neighborhood, called the images from the site “heartbreaking.”
What happened in Flatbush?
The building at 1321 Flatbush Ave., near Bedford Avenue, came down shortly after 4 p.m. More than 250 personnel from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) eventually responded, per Brownstoner, and rescuers worked through the night under floodlights. Around 1:30 a.m., a falling steel beam hit a firefighter, who was later listed in stable condition.
Many of the dead appear to have been laborers. Officials said the four bodies recovered Thursday morning appeared to be construction workers and that a group of workers had been directly beneath the building before it fell. One of them was Edgar, a 26-year-old from Sunset Park who leaves behind a wife and a 6-year-old child, his family said.
What we know about the construction site next door
The lot next door, at 2625 Bedford Ave., had active permits for excavation and foundation work, and its recent history is now under scrutiny. City property records show the lot is owned by a limited liability company tied to developer Robert Fischman and Judy Swimer, Gothamist reported.
The site’s troubles predate the excavation. In March, the Department of Buildings stopped work there during demolition of a one-story structure on the lot, after determining that contractors had failed to install required safeguards such as netting and sidewalk sheds, a department spokesperson said. Inspectors later found that demolition had continued despite the order, and the contractor was fined $10,000, Fox News reported. The city lifted the order in May.
In June, Fischman alerted neighboring landlords, including the owner of 1321 Flatbush, that excavation would soon begin. Structural plans filed for the dig called for extensive steel, timber and concrete shoring to brace adjacent buildings, along with vibration monitors, crack gauges on surrounding walls and supervision by a special inspector. Whether any of those protections were in place Wednesday remains unclear.
Developers are pursuing a nine-story, 64-unit building on the site, although only a three-story plan has been approved, CBS New York reported. In an email to CBS New York, the demolition contractor said it finished its work months ago and played no part in the excavation underway Wednesday.
At an 8 p.m. news conference at the scene Wednesday, Mamdani said the Department of Buildings and law enforcement “will be leading an investigation into what caused this building to collapse.” The agency has again halted all work at the site. No cause has been determined.
What we know about the building
The collapsed building, which had a separate owner, carried a long list of hazards of its own. Before Wednesday, 1321 Flatbush had 98 open housing code violations, including dangerous electrical wiring, an inadequate water supply to its sprinkler system and missing smoke detectors, according to city data.
Its landlord, Olufemi Falade, has a lengthy record of substandard building conditions. In 2006, a judge jailed Falade for 12 days over violations at a different property. The Flatbush building has also cycled through the city’s tax lien sale at least five times since 2017 because of unpaid municipal debts. Falade did not respond to Gothamist’s request for comment.
The search is far from over. FDNY Commissioner Lillian Bonsignore told crews to prepare for a lengthy operation, warning that more victims could be found.
Where can affected residents get help?
The city and the Red Cross have opened a reception center for displaced residents at the Flatbush YMCA, 1401 Flatbush Ave. Anyone unable to reach someone they believe was affected can call 311 or 212-639-9675 from outside the city. Flatbush Avenue remains closed between Clarendon Road and Bedford Avenue.
