KSHB 41 reporter Isabella Ledonne covers issues surrounding government accountability and solutions. Share your story with Isabella.
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A water tower in Independence came crashing down on Tuesday, but not the way it was supposed to.
The 200-plus foot structure stood tall for more than a century. But it didn't stand the test of time, rusting and weakening through the years.
"There is a difference between historic and old," said Rebecca Gannon, public information officer for the city of Independence. "Right now, this is old. It needs to come down."
And the tower did come down, just the wrong way. It landed just a few feet away from someone's front porch.
"It's crazy because it could have been so much worse," said neighbor Barbara Taylor. "It could have crashed right through that house."
Neighbors were shocked to see it happen but were glad no one was hurt.
"It was pretty scary," Taylor said. "We'll be thinking about it for a long time."
KSHB 41 News spoke with the resident whose house was nearly hit.
They didn't want to appear on camera but questioned how the contractors and the city of Independence planned the takedown.
The contracting company, Cornelius Wrecking, denied an on-camera interview regarding the crash but spoke with our reporters on the scene.
Partner Sean Polachek said they were out at the site at 7 a.m. Tuesday and there were issues with the cables.
They originally tried to use cables to make it fall on a grassy area on the west side of the street, in between the Missouri Model Railroad Museum and the homes.
Instead, the tower twisted the wrong way and the legs buckled, causing it to fall toward the homes.
"If this tower was structurally sound, even slightly, that would not have happened," Polacheck said.
The president and executive director of the railroad museum could tell something was wrong.
"An item that's old, it's going to bend and creak and turn, and that's exactly what it did," Dale Shipman said.
According to Gannon, the city of Independence started sourcing out contractors to take the tower down in November 2024.
They received nine contracting bids from companies across the region ranging from $40,000 to $402,000.
Gannon said Independence leaders picked Cornelius Wrecking at the lowest bid of $40,000.
Now, it is up to the contractors to finish the job and pick up the very large pieces from a very scary situation.
"The first thing I thought was everything at the museum will be gone," Shipman said. "But thank God it didn't happen."
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) confirmed to KSHB 41 it has opened an investigation into Cornelius Wrecking, of St. Joseph.
"Cornelius Wrecking has no previous OSHA history," an OSHA spokesperson shared. "OSHA has six months to complete its inspection, issue citations and propose monetary penalties, if violations of workplace safety and/or health regulations are found during the investigation. OSHA will make no further comment during the investigation."
As of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, power had not been restored to Osage Street residents.
As of 6 a.m. Wednesday, power lines were still down, but the pieces of the water tower have been moved back into a fenced-in area on the west side of Osage Street.
Contractors expect to be cleaning up the water tower pieces throughout the week.
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