Officials from the Mayor’s Office and from emergency agencies –as well as personnel from the Atila company– details of the action plan for the controlled demolition with explosives of the Continental Towers building tomorrow are finalized
The zero hour for the detonation will be 10:00 am, this Thursday, December 8. Nevertheless, from 6:00 am, the social teams will be deployed in the area for the preventive evacuation of the surrounding residential units. At 8:00 am, the first security check will be done in the perimeters by the Police and It is estimated that by 9:00 am the evacuation will be over.
According to the plan, 15 minutes before the implosion the first alarm will sound and thereafter every five minutes. The last one, at 10:00 am, will be heard continuously to start with a ten second countdown. Detonation will begin.
According to reports, it is expected that 250 electronic detonators each one is activated every 25 milliseconds, which will allow the success of the task.
Once the building falls, the Official Medellin Fire Department will help disperse the dust cloud. Subsequently, Atila’s professionals will enter the area to carry out the technical verification and a stabilization of the structures will be carried out and a mechanical demolition of the same will begin. It is estimated that in the afternoon of this Thursday the safe return of the evacuees begins in neighboring buildings.
Meanwhile, at the suggestion and coordination of the Board of Directors of Interclub, the inhabitants will do —first— a day of cleaning in which it will also be verified how the building was left. This process will last 48 hours and the staggered entry will begin on the third day.
road closure
The Ministry of Mobility of Medellín will carry out road closures between 9:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. in a radius of approximately 150 meters from the area to ensure the safety of the operation. The closures comprise the following ways:
Race 24 between race 24D and the end of the road; Carrera 24D and its continuity along Carrera 24B to Calle 17, between Transversal Superior and Avenida Las Palmas; Calle 16 between Carrera 24D and the Altos del Poblado building; Calle 17 between Avenida Las Palmas and Carrera 24B; Transversal Superior between Calle 10 and Carrera 28 to connect with Las Palmas, includes the entire bridge at Calle 10; Calle 10D and 10E between Carrera 28A and Transversal Superior; Carrera 25A between Calle 10 and Transversal Superior; Las Palmas avenue (east direction) between the Lower Transversal and the entrance to the Oriente Tunnel; Las Palmas avenue (west direction) between 19A street and 29th road; link between the Transversal Inferior and Avenida Las Palmas; Exit the Túnel de Oriente in an east-west direction to take Avenida Las Palmas.
These closures They will affect the collective public transport routes, 134IA, 134II (Integrada Metro), 136, 136I, 133D and all those in Eastern Antioquia that transit through Las Palmasso they must modify their route and announce alternate routes to their users during the implosion.
For its part, the Metropolitan Area of the Aburrá Valley indicated that it will monitor compliance with the Atila Management Plan to prevent different variables such as air quality, noise, flora and wildlife from being affected during the day.
The Area hopes that with the “artificial rain” particulate matter settles faster and does not stabilize in the atmosphere. The same washing procedure it will be done with the neighboring trees which will make it easier for the process of photosynthesis in the multiple floral species in the area not to be interrupted.
The entity also assured that in the vicinity of Continental Towers they inhabit at least between 30 and 40 different species of wild animals —among squirrels, fox dogs, possums, weasels, bees, wasps, frogs, lizards, birds— for what will be necessary during the night of this Wednesday, December 7 carry out a shooing procedure, which basically consists of projecting lights and some controlled noise to create a hostile environment, and thus ensure that the animals can leave the perimeter of the impact.