A dramatic scene played out in Wall Township, New Jersey, where an abandoned motel gave way and collapsed, its structure crumbling in a moment that was caught on video. The building had long stood empty, but its sudden failure still drew attention along one of the area's busy roadways.
The motel sat along Route 35, a well-traveled corridor through the region, and had once operated as an Economy Inn before it was left abandoned. Its slow decline had apparently been underway for some time, setting the stage for the collapse that followed.
Video from the scene captured the moment the marquee above the main entrance came crashing to the ground, a striking image of the building's failure. The footage showed the sign and the structure around it giving way, sending debris down at the front of the property.
The collapse did not come entirely without warning. Parts of the facade had already fallen before this latest failure, a sign that the structure had been deteriorating and losing its integrity in the time leading up to the collapse.
According to authorities, the timing points to the recent weather. The collapse happened on Friday evening, during the first wave of the severe storms that swept through the region over the past weekend, a stretch of punishing conditions that battered the area with wind and rain.
Police said the collapse appears to be linked to the storms that rolled through over the past week. The failure of the long-abandoned building added to the toll of a difficult stretch of weather that has left damage scattered across the region, even as crews continued to deal with its aftermath.