Gorst business swallowed in bizarre collapse

GORST, Wash. --   The owner of a business in Gorst is confused and reeling after the floor of the building mysteriously sank several feet on Thursday night.

The floor of the building in the 4100 block of highway 16 in Gorst suddenly dropped several feet at around 7 p.m.

The building looks fine from outside, but a closer look shows the amazing damage.

The floor of the building supply company buckled, sending furniture, equipment and displays crashing down 2 to 4 feet.

• Slideshow: Building sucked down 2 to 4 feet in Gorst

KIRO 7 Eyewitness News morning anchor Chris Egert was there when Rod Blake,  the owner of Beyond the Studs Building Supply, opened the door to survey the damage with a building inspector from Kitsap County.

"All of a sudden everything was just all over the place.  Then, as we called 911, we continued to watch it fall in further," said owner Rod Blake.

Blake said he is still coming to grips with watching his family business of 13 years be swallowed up with what he said sounded like a “big groan.”

Blake said he is thankful no one was hurt.

"Just two minutes difference, and all that would have fallen over on me as I walked out the door,” said Blake.

Neither Blake, nor Kitsap County Building Inspectors, know exactly what happened.  

They are in the process of figuring that out.  Blake said he suspects it could have had something to do with a recent sewer project outside the building.

“Since then, we have had flooding, about 6 inches of water in our warehouse that occurred probably two or three months ago," he said.

Crews from the City of Bremerton were also on hand Friday, trying to see if one of its projects had something to do with the building sinking.  

 
In the meantime, Blake said he will work with his insurance company to try and get some help and hopefully keep his business somewhat operational while it remains on anything but solid ground.