Forensic engineers returned to a Bedford-Stuyvesant block on Thursday to examine a wall collapse that has left one home unstable and forced neighbors out of theirs. The trouble began below ground, where a foundation wall gave way, and it has since rippled outward to threaten the buildings standing on either side of it.
According to Department of Buildings investigators, a side foundation wall in the cellar of 251 Macon Street had collapsed. The failure of that structural wall left the first floor of the home unstable, undermining the support the house depends on and turning an ordinary block into the site of an urgent engineering assessment.
The damage did not stop at a single address. Officials said the collapsed wall is also posing a danger to two other buildings, one on either side of the home at the center of the problem. A structural failure in one attached building can quickly compromise the ones it shares walls and lot lines with along the row.
With the stability of the connected buildings in question, authorities cleared the residents out. Three residential buildings have been evacuated as a precaution, emptying the homes while engineers work to determine how far the damage extends and whether the structures can be safely reoccupied at all.
For the families forced from their homes, the American Red Cross stepped in to help. The organization is assisting the displaced residents, the kind of support that tends to follow sudden evacuations, when people are pushed out with little notice and nowhere immediate to turn for shelter.
The return of forensic engineers signaled that the investigation into the collapse is still active. As they inspect the compromised foundation and the neighboring buildings, the block around 251 Macon Street remains a scene of caution, with the fate of the homes and when residents can return still to be determined.