ABERDEEN, Md. — The sign in front of the Days Inn in Aberdeen holds the promise that residents can start their day with a fresh burst of energy, but no one saw this coming, especially at 4:00 in the morning.
“They were banging on the door,” said Christopher Gillich, “They’re like, ‘Yea, you gotta get outta the building.’ I thought it was on fire at first.”
But Gillich says there was no smoke and no flames.
Part of walkway collapses at Days Inn in Aberdeen
Just crumbling rubble falling from a second floor walkway, built to bear the weight of people walking over it, that could no longer support itself.
“Look through the peephole and saw firefighters and an officer and then there’s just concrete in this area,” recalled Gillich.
Upon closer examination, it appears the concrete gave way from its metal reinforcement over a roughly 15-foot stretch of the walkway falling 10 feet to the ground.
“Thank God it is safe. Everyone is safe. That is my number one concern,” Days Inn General Manager Uyesh Bhatti told us, and he adds he has moved quickly to shore up the damaged walkway, “I had to, of course, call the county and the city. They came and put the temporary support system, and then they asked us to continue the same thing so that it is safe so that is exactly what we’re doing. Now, we are contacting a structural engineer to come and inspect it and hopefully guide us on how we can fix this.”
The management says it is booked full due to a number of sporting events in the area, but another motel has been able to take in residents from nine units that were impacted by the collapse.
A potentially dangerous incident if not for the timing so early in the morning…
“I’m thankful for God and grateful that nobody got hurt, because there are kids right down there. They have like four children,” said Gillich.
That’s left residents counting themselves lucky.
“I have a doctor’s appointment this morning for a pet scan,” added the resident, “A cardiology thing about my heart. So I made like five trips so my heart should be going pretty good,” he laughed.
