A four-story apartment building in Chelsea partially collapsed yesterday as winds gusted to more than 50 mph.
The front facade on the top floors of the building, on Eighth Avenue near West 15th Street, fell off, completely exposing the rooms inside.
One firefighter suffered minor injuries, the FDNY said.
A tourist staying in the building said she first noticed pieces falling from the ceiling.
“It’s an old building. It creaks and things, so initially we didn’t think anything was going on,” said the tourist, Natasha Stelmaszek, 56, of Seattle.
She went outside to take a look at the building, which has a business on the first floor, and noticed a crack.
“I decided to go upstairs to the fourth floor and then down to the second to let everyone know,” she said.
“And as a group, we just figured it was time to get out.”
Isabelle Boussard, visiting from France, said she and her family packed their bags and crossed the street.
“Ten minutes later, we watched it fall. It was crazy. It’s a very bad trip,” she said.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn surveyed the damage. She told NY1 that all the tenants were tourists and that she was going to check whether it was an illegal hotel.
A call to the Department of Buildings and the building’s owner were not immediately returned.
The building has had numerous violations, including one in August for doing a two-story extension without a permit.
Additional reporting by David Seifman