Louisiana Tech's Water Tower Falls
By: Meagan Fitzgerald
Updated: August 13, 2009
The nearly 75 year old tower fell just before 11 o'clock. Everyone from campus employees and students to town residents and city officials came out to see the show.
Nicole Jenkins is a student at Tech and she said, "We were staying out here for like an hour for it to fall. It was really cool the way it went down and smashed"
Rodney Wilson is a university employee and he said, "It's something I'll never forget."
Contractors got to work at around 6 o'clock Thursday morning. They cut off three out of the six tower legs then pulled on the front of the tower to make it fall. That didn't work, so they started loosening up the other 3 legs and that's when gravity did the rest. But, contractors say tearing down the tower is just one part of the process.
Mark Lowery is a contractor with All State Tower, he said, "We'll just start on this tower, we'll just start cutting the tower up, gotta be careful because it's all together and as we cut it it's going to spring apart."
It seems like a daunting task to have to chop up every square inch, but Lowery says it won't take as long as it looks.
Lowery said, "It will probably take about a week, it'll be completely done, cleared up, we'll be done with the job."
Nicole Jenkins is a student at Tech and she said, "We were staying out here for like an hour for it to fall. It was really cool the way it went down and smashed"
Rodney Wilson is a university employee and he said, "It's something I'll never forget."
Contractors got to work at around 6 o'clock Thursday morning. They cut off three out of the six tower legs then pulled on the front of the tower to make it fall. That didn't work, so they started loosening up the other 3 legs and that's when gravity did the rest. But, contractors say tearing down the tower is just one part of the process.
Mark Lowery is a contractor with All State Tower, he said, "We'll just start on this tower, we'll just start cutting the tower up, gotta be careful because it's all together and as we cut it it's going to spring apart."
It seems like a daunting task to have to chop up every square inch, but Lowery says it won't take as long as it looks.
Lowery said, "It will probably take about a week, it'll be completely done, cleared up, we'll be done with the job."
