Watergate Evacuated After Parking Garage Collapse

Updated 5:30 p.m.

A three-story, partial collapse of a parking garage occurred around 10 a.m. Friday, May 1, at the Watergate complex, prompting evacuation of buildings and a large D.C. Fire Department response, shutting down Virginia Avenue from 25th Street to Rock Creek Parkway.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held a 4 p.m. press briefing after visiting the site of the accident and said that rescue dogs indicated no human activity at the three levels affected by the collapse but that a cadaver dog made “a possible hit.”

Two persons were hurt, and earlier Bowser said, “Not everyone is accounted for,” according to NBC News.

“The building shook a little bit and we saw a sinkhole growing in the courtyard,” said Tom Wall of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, which is headquartered on the 10th and 11th floors of the Watergate office building at 2600 Virginia Ave., NW. A tree and foliage fell down into the hole, as water sprayed up from broken pipes, the witness said.

A main part of the collapse was at the underground pathway to the public garage and between the office building and Watergate East. “Thank God it happened at 10 a.m.,” Wall said, “and not around lunchtime,” when the area would be more traveled by office workers and visitors. “With rubble spilling out,” the area “looked like footage from a war zone,” he said.

Office workers and residents are used to noise and construction activity, as the Watergate Hotel is undergoing a $125-milllion renovation, due for completion by the end of summer. The garage was also under construction at the time. All construction workers have been accounted for.

“Rescue crews are using dogs to search the rubble of the garage,” NBC News reported. “Special Ops and a local collapse team are searching the garage in the 2600 block of Virginia Avenue NW for any other possible victims. The D.C. Fire & EMS Department’s only search dog has been deployed to Nepal to help in the aftermath of the earthquake there. Montgomery County Fire & Rescue sent their dogs to aid at the Watergate.”

The cause of the collapse is undetermined at this time.

The Watergate complex, known for the 1972 burglary that led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon, lies along the banks of the Potomac River next to another Washington landmark, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.