Food court showered in glass
PATRONS of Niecon Plaza are lucky to have escaped unharmed after a large glass roof pane shattered across the food court area.
Yesterday winds of up to 72km/h ripped a glass table top off neighbouring high rise building, Wave, which landed on the glass atrium of the Broadbeach plaza.
A Broadbeach Bookshop employee said she heard a bang similar to an explosion which set off the fire alarms around 1.20pm.
“The smash wasn’t straight away,” she said, adding there was enough time between the initial bang and later smash for firefighters to evacuate patrons. “There was a little man, he just got through in time ... then the pane exploded. We’re lucky no one was hurt.”
Queensland Fire Emergency Services Inspector Craig Lashman agreed, saying the fact nobody was hurt was “miraculous”.
Wave building manager Dave Turner said while investigations were still under way, they had ensured furniture had been secured until the high winds subsided.
He said it was normal practice to secure furniture during particularly fierce winds.