This article was last updated on April 16, 2022
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Superintendent Tom Cooper of Fire and Rescue NSW said, there were huge cracks in the partially collapsed roof of the car park of the Westfield shopping centre in south-eastern Sydney and the possibility for a major collapse was very real. A second-class steel beam that supported the car park roof had weakened and broken down. A section of the Westfield Eastgardens Shopping Centre on Bunnerong Road, Eastgardens, was likely to stay closed indefinitely.
Emergency services said today the roof collapsed before the main opening time. Emergency crews evacuated the shopping centre, believed no one was injured or trapped. Police said it could have been devastating if the incident had happened a few hours later when the shops were open.
Superintendent Karen McCarthy told reporters, “I’m just glad to say today that we’re not dealing with any injuries involving people.” He added, “We’re basically dealing with motor vehicles and structural buildings.”
On Tuesday morning between 500 and 600 people were evacuated from the shopping centre. Before the whole centre was closed people from 20 nearby shops were evacuated after a survey revealed the collapse might have caused structural damage. Superintendent Cooper said firefighters arrived at the site beside Banks Avenue about 6.55am.
He also said mid-morning that engineers were still trying to test the structure of the building. He said the engineers, from the Department of Commerce, would determine any movements every hour. “Where the cracks are, they’ll put a bit of timber and draw lines and times. They’ll go back in an hour to see if it has moved,” he said. “It’s very rare for something like that to happen [in Sydney].”
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