‘Part of my wall is gone’

A woman who lives next to the Financial District parking garage that collapsed Tuesday was home during the destruction which left a gaping hole in one of her apartment walls.

“There were a lot of really big bangs first. Then part of the wall started coming down,” Sandy Imhoff, whose second-floor apartment shared a wall with the Ann Street garage, told The Post.

“Bricks were coming through. The place was filling up with dirt … part of my wall is gone now.”

One worker was killed and five others were injured when the garage on Ann Street near Nassau Street caved in at 4:10 p.m., swallowing dozens of cars and sending slabs of concrete plummeting from its fourth floor into the cellar.

“I was just in shock,” Imhoff said in the aftermath of the collapse. “I was worried for the other people in the building.”

Imhoff fled outside, but said her two cats were still inside her apartment.

Officials said the parking garage building had active violations dating back to 2003, but was not under construction.

Imhoff, however, said she heard what sounded like construction “banging” coming from the garage around 10 a.m., just six hours before the collapse.

A 22-year-old who worked in an office next to the garage said the collapse “came out of nowhere” and lasted between 7 and 10 seconds.

“We heard a loud noise and we knew it wasn’t safe,” the worker, who identified themselves as I.B., said.

“We looked down from the window and saw a lot of smoke coming so we figured something went down but we obviously don’t know what it was. Everyone just started rushing.”

The suddenness triggered fear and confusion — though his colleagues were sure the collapse wasn’t caused by an earthquake, they wondered if it could have been caused by another natural phenomenon.

“As the garage was collapsing it felt like the cars were collapsing on top of each other … There was a split as well so at first people in the office thought it was a sinkhole,” I.B. recounted, adding that his office of about 50 people jumped to evacuate.

It is unclear how many cars were destroyed, but officials said many were crushed by the falling concrete.

One car had visibly fallen through the floor, landing with its front headlights on the ground and its trunk facing the sky.

Its owner, Ahmed Scott, said he was moments away from retrieving the vehicle before watching it slam through the ground.

“The way my car looks, if I would have gotten my car I would have been dead,” Scott, who commutes to the neighborhood from the Bronx every day, said.

The publishing employee, who moonlights as a photographer, said all of his equipment is trapped in the car.

His house keys are also in the vehicle, leaving him unsure how he’ll get home.

“I’ve seen my car is totaled … I’m just trying to keep a clear mind and not let it get to me,” Scott said. 

Officials from multiple agencies are still working to clear the building, which they said is “completely unstable.”

Pace University, located down the block from the garage, canceled its classes for the remainder of the day.

Homes and buildings in the immediate area — including Imhoff’s apartment — were evacuated, though it’s not clear when the orders will be lifted.