St. Petersburg construction crane falls from high rise during Hurricane Milton

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – A construction crane in downtown St. Petersburg came tumbling down as Hurricane Milton lashed the city. 

Video shows the crane on the ground surrounded by debris after it plummeted to the ground at 400 Central Avenue. 

The city says nobody was injured in the collapse.

A witness told FOX 13 that she believes it fell on the Tampa Bay Times building. 

The crane fell off of a building that has been under construction for about two years and would be the tallest building in St. Petersburg. 

Earlier this week, St. Petersburg Mayor Ken Welch said he was worried about how the tower cranes would work during Hurricane Milton, noting that it takes specialized crews about a week of planning to remove and disassemble the cranes because most are fixed in place. 

City staff said that St. Petersburg was in touch with developers managing the cranes. Due to the nature of crane operations, though, lowering or securing a tower crane is scheduled weeks in advance and was not a feasible option within the timeframe of Hurricane Milton.

The tower cranes are put into weathervane mode during storms that make them safe to about 100 mile per hour gusts, but Hurricane Milton produced winds that were higher. 

The Category 3 hurricane made landfall Wednesday night on Siesta Key. It was downgraded to a Category 2 hurricane about two hours after making landfall and is expected to works its way across the state Thursday morning. 

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