BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Investigators have begun trying to figure out what caused a 210-foot construction crane to collapse, killing one man and severely damaging three buildings in downtown Bellevue.

The man who died is Matt Ammon, 31, an attorney at Microsoft, the company told KIRO 7 Eyewitness News.

Smaller cranes were set up Friday to clear the wreckage of the collapsed crane and searchers working overnight with infrared cameras and dogs found no one else hurt or trapped in the accident, damage from which will run into millions of dollars, officials said Friday.

Video: Crane Crashes Into Building, Killing Man

The crane is blocking 108th Avenue Northeast near Northeast Fourth Street. The intersection could remain blocked for a day, officials said. Officials at the scene told KIRO 7 Eyewitness reporter Michelle Millman it could be days before the crane is moved.

Video: Bellevue Businesses Closed Following Crane Crash

Dozens of workers in the area were off the job Friday because construction projects were shut down, KIRO 7 Eyewitness News reported.

The construction crane -- owned by Morrow Crane -- came crashing down at about 7:45 p.m. Thursday, killing a man as it sliced through his fourth-floor apartment in Pinnacle Bell Centre. The top floor of that building was crushed by the collapse, officials said.

The crane operator "rode the crane down" nearly 200 feet and was taken to nearby Overlake Hospital, police and firefighters said.

The operator's condition was not immediately available, but police Officer Greg Grannis said his injuries did not appear to be severe and he was expected to recover.

The operator managed to pull himself out of the cage about 20 to 30 feet above the ground, and firefighters used a ladder to carry him to safety.

He told rescue personnel he was preparing to shut down for the night when he heard a crack and the crane went down, fire Lt. Bruce Kroon said.

Witnesses said the crane first hit Plaza 305, an office building, then crashed onto the Pinnacle Bell Centre, a 248-unit complex with stores on the ground floor and apartments above, and grazed the side of the Civica Office Commons. Severe structural damage was reported to all three buildings, and a restaurant, the Melting Pot, also was damaged.

Dozens of residents, diners and others were evacuated as firefighters went through the buildings to check for others who might have been hurt. Traffic remained blocked overnight in the area, the principal commercial district in the burgeoning suburbs east of Lake Washington.

"If this occurred an hour earlier, it could have been a lot worse," Mayor Grant Degginger said.

Some parts of Plaza 305 were unsafe to enter, and two smaller cranes were summoned to stabilize that building, police said.

The cause of the accident remained undetermined, but Fire Chief Mario H. Trevino said it apparently involved "a catastrophic failure" of the crane.

The crane had been anchored in a pit about five stories deep while being used in construction of the 20-story Tower 33. The wreckage was left hanging over the street pending the arrival of safety investigators from the state Department of Labor and Industries.

Video: Residents 'Stampede' From Building

Paul Leeper and Linda Rosario, both 42, said the dead man apparently lived in the unit directly over their third-floor apartment.

Rosario said she was on her computer about three to four feet from the windows in the living room when "I heard this rumbling like thunder, getting louder."

"I covered my head. I stood frozen. I told my husband to throw me my shoes. There was glass all around," she added.

Leeper said he heard a loud rumbling followed by a huge boom.

"I thought it was a plane," he said. "The fourth floor -- it was toast. My deck is missing."

The impact lowered their ceiling by a foot.

"I guess it wasn't my time," Rosario said.

Staff at the Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar on the first floor of Civica Office Commons said about 300 diners and 35 employees were hustled to safety. The Seastar Restaurant and Raw Bar would be open for lunch and dinner Friday, a representative said.

"It sounded like thunder, two waves, back to back," said Cresta Holdeman, who was waiting on guests in a private dining room.

Ryan Peach, 28, an emergency medical technician working a second job as a waiter at the Melting Pot, said apartment ceilings were collapsed, wires and pipes were hanging and a broken water main left nearly a foot of water in the ground.