HOUSTON (AP) - Part of the interior of a vacant, condemned
church building collapsed on the western edge of downtown Houston
on Friday.
Some nearby residents were moved out of nearby homes after
fire-rescue crews expressed concern that more of the Mount Carmel
Missionary Baptist Church building might collapse completely.
Assistant Deputy Chief Tommy Dowdy said crews planned to shore up
the sagging interior before beginning a search, but no one was
believed to be inside.
Aerial video showed the roof of the two-story building sagging
in the middle, with exterior walls bowing out.
For almost a century, Mount Carmel has been a fixture in the
Freedman's Town section that started as a settlement of freed
slaves after the Civil War.