Crane helps remove last few undamaged cars from collapsed parking garage

Crews with a crane removed the last three undamaged cars that were stuck in a partially collapsed parking garage in Irving on Wednesday.

The crane was brought in early Wednesday morning to lift three vehicles from the unstable top deck of the structure. They are intact, but it wasn’t safe to move them until Wednesday.

“I'll take it on a victory lap just to see how it's running,” said Kristin Freeborn. “I was just glad nobody was hurt trying to retrieve the car. People can't be replaced, cars can.”

Video from SKY 4 showed one of the cars being moved just before noon. Parts of the parking garage were also being dismantled.

One of the car owners who happened to park it at an angle on the day of the collapse in the corner of garage got lucky when it didn’t come crashing down with a number of other vehicles.

“If I had parked straight it would have been in the hole,” April Bergman said. “That car is known as our teeny weeny mini Winnie. It’s my camping trailer/go anywhere in it. It has a full bed in it. That car doesn’t sit still for one moment.”

The garage gave way in two sections on July 31. It could be four or five more days before crews can remove more than a dozen damaged cars on the bottom level. The owners said even though the vehicles are totaled, they still need proof of damage to get their insurance to kick in.

Those who parked in the garage everyday said they were weary of doing so.

“Everybody was like, it was shaky, the garage was always shaky so it wasn't surprising,” said Laura Glass.

Freeborn said she thought she was worrying for no reason.

“I thought it was a real irrational fear, it turns out it wasn't,” Freeborn said.

Engineers are still trying to determine what caused part of the parking structure to come down.