Weymouth construction collapse kills worker, injures 4 as wind gusts batter Massachusetts
QUINCY - One man was killed and four others were injured when a home under construction in Weymouth collapsed Tuesday as strong wind gusts battered Massachusetts.
WBZ-TV meteorologists said winds that followed some morning snow showers gusted between 40 and 50 mph around Boston, and as high as 64 mph in Lawrence.
Weymouth construction accident
Fire officials say they got a call for the collapse of a single-family home under construction just before noon on Vine Street in Weymouth. When they arrived, there was still one worker trapped inside. A technical rescue team first had to shore up the building before rescuing the worker, who was located between the first and second floors.
"As windy as it is now, it was a concern of ours as we were working," said Weymouth Deputy Fire Chief Tom Murphy. "Whether or not it's part of the cause, it's undetermined."
The worker, 29-year-old Mario Diaz Obando of Fall River, was rushed to South Shore Hospital, where he later died. Four other workers were transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
Neighbors said the building has been under construction for the past few months.
"I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It just went down very fast and very loud," neighbor Kelly Keating said.
"It was a very strong gust of wind out of nowhere, you know very violent wind," said witness Sonny Nguyen. "The whole powerlines were just wobbling up and down. I've never seen that before."
Quincy scaffolding collapse
Scaffolding collapsed at a large building under construction in Quincy at the intersection of Washington and Sumner streets. Officials closed off part of the area for several hours on Tuesday.
Witnesses who work at a barbershop nearby told WBZ-TV's Paul Burton that one worker barely escaped injury as the scaffolding came down.
"We were cutting hair and you just heard 'boom! Bang! Bing!'" the witness said. "He laid on the ground for a second and got up, walked around."
"We thought, another earthquake? What's going on?" another witness said.
There were no major injuries.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration officials were called to both scenes in Quincy and Weymouth and are investigating.
Tree damage in Massachusetts
The MBTA said multiple Fairmount Line Commuter Rail trains have been canceled and riders "may experience severe delays" due to a downed tree on the tracks.
There were also delays of about 15 minutes on the Red Line because of a tree down by the tracks in Braintree.
Massachusetts power outages
As many 22,000 customers were without power at one point early Tuesday afternoon. Abington, Whitman, Rockland, Bolton, Westford, Hanson, and Weston were some of the towns seeing the highest percentage of power outages.