LEANING TOWER OF SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS

                                          IMPLOSION ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND

Early risers in the Cramer household today. We were on the road to South Padre Island. It seemed like half of Brownsville was driving over the bridge that takes you to the resort town of South Padre. Following the traffic toward the tower we saw police directing, not only traffic, but people.

We went with friends, Mike and Laurel; with Mike driving his pick-up we traversed into the mud and had a great view of what was going to happen at 9:00 this Sunday morning.

Usually timed events don't happen on time. It has taken months to prepare for the implosion of Ocean Tower Condos.
The Ocean Tower was leaning, which could've been due to the extra weight on one side from the olympic size pool and attached garage. Obviously, it didn't work to "fix" it, as this morning it was being imploded.
This timed event happened on time!

Controlled Demolition Incorporated out of Baltimore, Maryland carried out the implosion. They used more than two and a half miles of detonating cord to bring down the 55,000 tons of concrete and steel, in this 30 story building.
Like a starting gun, at a sporting event, sirens broke the silence and caught everyone's attention that something was going to happen.

Suddenly we heard what could've been the start of a fireworks show, pop, pop, popping, then much louder and in approximately 11.2 seconds the Leaning Tower on South Padre Island was nothing but dust and a pile of rubble.

                You can see the hot spots above.   There it goes.                                                                                                                                                                 

Almost gone....                                   Nothing but dust...                          

A pile of rubble ~in 11.2 seconds!

What a clean up this going to be!  

We witnessed history today, as this was a world record implosion, for the tallest reinforced concrete building to ever be imploded.

Off to breakfast, at a great Mexican Restaurant. Some way to start off a Sunday morning. Making a truly great day~~~the Green Bay Packers won again!  Go Pack!