Residents spend Christmas in makeshift camp after Sydney building cracks and moves

Terrified Sydneysiders were trapped inside a high rise apartment block when fears were raised it might collapse on Christmas Eve. Despite engineers today reassuring residents there are no longer concerns over the Opal Towers collapsing, 51 units have been deemed unsafe.

• Resident tells: ‘Sirens blaring, then I was stranded in a bikini’

Terrified residents were trapped inside a high rise Sydney apartment block when fears were raised it might collapse on Christmas Eve.

Scores of people who were forced to spend Monday night in a makeshift emergency camp have now returned home to the newly-constructed 38 storey building.

But a third of residents from 150 apartments at Opal Towers who endured a sleepless night will have to spend at least 48 hours elsewhere after their homes were declared unsafe.

Anxious residents wait to hear news about their homes in the tower block foyer.

Police check concerned residents.

Tower residents David and Narissa Knight.

Residents were evacuated and not allowed back into their apartments. Picture: Twitter

A spokesman for the developer Ecove Group said: “We confirm that late last night two structural engineers approved the building safe for occupation and 341 apartments were re-opened for resident access.

“Although the building was deemed safe to occupy the authorities have required that 51 apartments be further investigated and tested to determine the potential cause of the incident and we hope that these apartments will also soon be approved for access to residents.

“We are deeply sympathetic for the concern and anxiety of residents and owners and are actively following up the builder and the builder’s engineers to hopefully provide residents and owners with further information.”

People heard large cracking noises on Monday afternoon as the Olympic Park structure shifted up to two millimetres.

That jammed the front doors of three units forcing the people inside to panic and call triple-zero, NSW Fire & Rescue Superintendent Adam Dewberry says.

“Firefighters and police actually got in and got those people out,” he said.

Emergency crews then used the fire stairs to door knock every home evacuating some 300 people and two nearby buildings as an exclusion zone was put in place around Brushbox Street with roads and the nearby train station closed.

Safety fears... The Opal Tower last night. Picture: Bill Hearne

Evacuees inside a Sydney showground exhibition hall. Picture: Flavio Brancaleone

Fire and Rescue deployed laser building monitoring equipment. Picture: Twitter

FRNSW is on scene with specialist equipment designed to monitor the building for any more movement. https://t.co/K14jrJhauA

— Fire and Rescue NSW (@FRNSW) December 24, 2018

Engineers brought in to examine a large crack on level 10 remain on scene to investigate the integrity of the failed internal support wall but laser monitors have detected no further movement from the building.

Sup Dewberry said it’s too soon to know what caused the damage to the impact zone which affects a column stretching along every level.

He said there was no risk of the building collapsing but it it may be weeks before some residents can move back in.

Police gave the majority of residents the all clear to go home at 12.30am but 51 units were declared structurally unsafe.

Firefighters and paramedics escorted those residents back to gather essential belongings, medication and pets and have since found their own accommodation.

One of those units belongs to John - who didn’t want to give his last name - but he still hasn’t been back inside his home after hurriedly leaving without his phone or wallet.

Promotional image of Opal Tower (right)

Welfare services will be provided for residents without temporary housing, pictured here at the Sydney Showground. Flavio Brancaleone

“I heard a bang and I thought it was my next door neighbour, just kids playing a ball game. I wasn’t worried, I didn’t take it seriously,” he said.

Once the alarm was raised a large number of evacuees were able to find shelter for the night while the remaining residents were housed at the Sydney showground and offered welfare services to locate temporary housing.

John said he “just put on my slippers, and I grabbed a key and came” to the emergency centre where he spent the night bonding with neighbours over their shared plight.

Yogi, who also did not want to give his full name, said he started to hear strange noises around midnight on Sunday night, fled his home on Monday afternoon and didn’t leave the crisis centre until nearly 1am following scant updates from police and building management.

The renter says he doesn’t feel comfortable living there anymore and wants to break his 12-month lease.

“It definitely has taken that Christmas spirit away. I do have a long lease but after last night’s events I won’t be staying there long term,” he said.

“If the corner apartment’s no good and you’re adjacent, where do you have that comfort?”

Residents turned to social media to express their frustration.

Even neighbouring apartments have been evacuated.

Kiwi tourist Narissa Knight was left stranded in her bikini when sirens started blaring in the nearby building her family was staying in on Monday afternoon.

The 20-year-old New Zealander had been swimming in the pool but was forced to evacuate.

“We couldn’t get anything, I was there in my bikini and no shoes on, nothing,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

Ms Knight, her dad and her brother’s family had to go shopping for clothes and food before heading to the evacuation centre.

“I was walking through the mall and I’m like oh my god, I have my towel around me. It was so embarrassing,” Ms Knight said.

“We had a Christmas Eve feast at KFC,” Ms Knight’s dad David said.

Mr Knight said their family is from earthquake-prone Christchurch and “we’ve had enough buildings falling down”.

“We were probably luckier than some,” he said.

Lanie Devera spent the night sleeping rough in her car with her 12-year-old daughter while their dog was trapped inside the Opal Towers.

“My dog was inside and we were worried because we’re outside and not allowed to get in,” Ms Devera said.

The trio returned to rescue Coco on Tuesday and Ms Devera said they’d stay at the building for Christmas lunch.

“It’s not safe but of course we have to stay,” she said.

“At least we’re together.”

Architect Mohamed Eldardiry was ordered to leave his neighbouring building but snuck back inside to fetch Christmas gifts for his three children on Monday night.

He said the skyscraper was built on an area that used to be a swamp or water reservoir.

Construction on the $165 million, 117m, Opal Tower began in 2014 and finished in August this year.

But Mr Eldardiry said although the building’s structural integrity was compromised it wouldn’t collapse.

“The foundations would have been deep enough and the guiding would have been anchored, that’s not what caused the problem,” he said.

“It would take a missile to bring a building that big down, or an aeroplane.”

Opal Tower has 392 apartments, commercial spaces, a childcare centre where 55 children were evacuated from and a community centre.

It was built by Icon Construction and developed by Ecove Group and a spokesman confirmed the builder has been notified.