Sydney apartment high-rise evacuated amid cracking noises

Police reportedly had to use heavy equipment to force open doors to allow residents to escape. An exclusion zone with a radius of 1 kilometre (half a mile) was established around the building, forcing the evacuation of neighbouring buildings and the closure of roads and a train station.

New South Wales police said in a statement that the alarm was raised by residents who reported hearing “cracking noises” throughout the morning.

The tower, which looms over the central site of the 2000 Sydney Olympics, has 392 apartments, a retail area and a childcare centre.

Water and gas services were shut off and the tower was being isolated from the power grid, Wright said.

Meriton, the operator of the neighbouring building, said in an email to residents that there was “potential for the tower to collapse.”

A resident of the Opal Tower told the Nine News network he heard a loud bang as if something in the building had “snapped.”

Another resident told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation there were cracks on the building’s 12th and 13th floors.

“I’m concerned, of course,” he said. “A few days ago the doors looked different, like they couldn’t close properly. And you do feel (movement) sometimes when there’s strong wind.”

Residents from Opal Tower and surrounding properties had been taken to an evacuation centre and it was not clearly if or when they would be able to return to their homes.

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This story has been edited to correct the building’s height to 36 stories.

The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Sydney apartment high-rise evacuated amid cracking noises

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