PARMA, Ohio — Aerial footage from AirTracker 5 shows a new perspective of a partially collapsed parking deck at a Parma apartment building that left two cars precariously hanging over a giant hole.
The new aerial footage offers a new understanding of the location of the large hole and its proximity to the apartment building where resident balconies are just a few feet away.
Nicholas Schultz, a resident of Regency Apartments where the collapse occurred, said he heard his neighbor pull into the above-ground lot and park near his vehicle shortly before a massive hole opened beneath both vehicles.
"They rolled in, and then I kept hearing noises, thinking they were messing with my vehicle. I came outside more or less to investigate, and it turns out it wasn’t them. It was the structure crumbling and eventually falling,” Schultz said.
Views from the ground and from the sky show the bumpers kept the cars from falling into the sub level of the garage.
“As of now I feel stranded," Schultz said.
Parma Fire Dept. public information officer T.J. Martin said, “They’re probably still drive-able. But they’re going to have to find a way to lift those cars out of there and move them off the site. And then they can work on determining the cause and origin of the collapse.”
He said the crumbling asphalt broke through the garage's sprinkler system and began filling the lower level with water. When police and fire crews arrived, immediate efforts were made to ensure the above-ground parking deck was secure.
No residents, responding firefighters or police were injured, although Schultz and the car that parked next to his had a close call.
RELATED: Resident left vehicle moments before partial collapse of parking deck at Parma apartment building
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