Heavy rains in Manhattan breach Apple's flagship Fifth Ave store

Posted:
in General Discussion edited January 2014
A deluge of rain in New York City made its way into the glass cube atop Apple's Fifth Avenue store on Wednesday, leaving employees scrambling to mop up the mess.

Apple Store
Workers clean up Apple's Fifth Ave Store Wednesday morning. Photo by Errol Rappaport, via New York Post.


The flagship store, which is open 24 hours a day, was flooded as of around 8 a.m. on Wednesday, a customer told the New York Post. The incident reportedly started with a slow leak before water suddenly began pouring into the store.

"Everyone started scrambling, moving tables," Errol Rappaport told the Post. "It didn't look like there were any electrical issues, otherwise they would have evacuated the store."

At the time there were said to be about 15 customers in the store. Employees reportedly hurried to remove the water that was on the floor, but no products appeared to have been damaged.

Most of the water had been mopped up a few hours later, and the store remained open the entire time.

Wednesday's report cited unnamed workers who blamed the incident on a "drainage problem" stemming from construction done at the Fifth Avenue location in 2011. In a $6.7 million effort, Apple simplified the 32-foot glass cube that serves as the entrance to the store, reducing it from 90 panes of glass to just 15 larger, seamless pieces.

Customers enter the cube before taking a staircase down below, to where the 24-hour store is located. The cube, which is one of the most photographed landmarks in New York City, was designed and even paid for by late company co-founder Steve Jobs.

Heavy rains were seen throughout New York's five boroughs Wednesday morning, with localized street and highway flooding in some areas, according to WNBC 4 New York.

The entrance to Apple's Fifth Ave Store was covered with sandbags last October in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy. There was no indication that any damage or major leaks occurred when the superstorm hit.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 36
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,650member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    A deluge of rain in New York City made its way into the glass cube atop Apple's Fifth Avenue store on Wednesday, leaving employees scrambling to mop up the mess.



    Wednesday's report cited unnamed workers who blamed the incident on a "drainage problem" stemming from construction done at the Fifth Avenue location in 2011. In a $6.7 million effort, Apple simplified the 32-foot glass cube that serves as the entrance to the store, reducing it from 90 panes of glass to just 15 larger, seamless pieces.


     


    15 seamless glass panels yet a significant amount of water made it inside the seamless cube during a rainstorm??

  • Reply 2 of 36
    tooltalktooltalk Posts: 766member


    not sure why this is news worthy.  I mean, did anyone drown and die?

  • Reply 3 of 36
    mytdavemytdave Posts: 447member


    Underground store, not at the top of a tall hill, big hole mostly covered with glass...  Was wondering when this would happen...

  • Reply 4 of 36
    poochpooch Posts: 768member
    Most of the water had been mopped mopped up a few hours later, and the store remained open the entire time.
    tooltalk wrote: »
    not sure why this is news worthy.  I mean, did anyone drown?

    no. because when you mop mop, nobody drowns.
  • Reply 5 of 36
    gtrgtr Posts: 3,231member
    Having seen a Macquarium I just had the most interesting idea for a new store design.

    Macquarium

    [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/24760/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

    Apple's new New York store design...

    [IMG]http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/24761/width/200/height/400[/IMG]
  • Reply 6 of 36
    dasanman69dasanman69 Posts: 13,002member
    gatorguy wrote: »
    15 seamless glass panels yet a significant amount of water made it inside the seamless cube during a rainstorm??

    Hmmm I don't know, maybe it got under the glass or through the doorway.
  • Reply 7 of 36
    gazoobeegazoobee Posts: 3,754member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    15 seamless glass panels yet a significant amount of water made it inside the seamless cube during a rainstorm??



     


    Most likely cause would be flex of the panels creating a puddling situation on the roof.  


     


    The number of panels are also routinely mis-reported.  There are many more than fifteen panels that make up the structure and it's a reasonably complicated arrangement with internal glass buttressing and so forth, so it's not like it's just a simple glass box.  

  • Reply 8 of 36
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,136member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    15 seamless glass panels yet a significant amount of water made it inside the seamless cube during a rainstorm??





    Nowhere was it written that the water came in through the glass cube itself.  The article clearly states that it was a "drainage problem" which has me believing it was something else like drain grates being plugged-up or something.

  • Reply 9 of 36
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,650member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post




    Nowhere was it written that the water came in through the glass cube itself.  The article clearly states that it was a "drainage problem" which has me believing it was something else like drain grates being plugged-up or something.



    Nowhere but in the very first sentence.


     


    "A deluge of rain in New York City made its way into the glass cube atop Apple's Fifth Avenue store on Wednesday..."

  • Reply 10 of 36
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gazoobee View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    15 seamless glass panels yet a significant amount of water made it inside the seamless cube during a rainstorm??



     


    Most likely cause would be flex of the panels creating a puddling situation on the roof.  


     


    The number of panels are also routinely mis-reported.  There are many more than fifteen panels that make up the structure and it's a reasonably complicated arrangement with internal glass buttressing and so forth, so it's not like it's just a simple glass box.  



    I'm going with the joint where the end of the panels meet the ground (plaza surface). Or maybe just through the doorway itself.


     


    Surprised this has just happened. Seems to me we've had much stronger rains than this over the time since the cube was rebuilt.

  • Reply 11 of 36
    cityguidecityguide Posts: 129member
    Rainwater dripped into the store before the panels were replaced, though not in the volume seen in this picture. A small amount would make it through the doorway, where it would pool before cascading around the stair.
  • Reply 12 of 36
    isaidsoisaidso Posts: 750member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post




    15 seamless glass panels yet a significant amount of water made it inside the seamless cube during a rainstorm??



    If the panels are assembled together in any manner, then  "seamless glass panels" is an oxymoron.

  • Reply 13 of 36
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,136member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    Nowhere but in the very first sentence.


     


    "A deluge of rain in New York City made its way into the glass cube atop Apple's Fifth Avenue store on Wednesday..."





    Oh please.  This is typical media-spin that makes it sound like water somewhere made its way through the cube structure, or possibly through the cube itself.



    I did a little quick search on more detail regarding this.  Looks like wherever AI scraped the article from, some details were conveniently left out.  



    http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/flood_at_the_fifth_avenue_apple_WnpmuPMAgrPxHj7P0u8fcI



    Here's the part that stands out from THIS article:



    =============



    According to one worker, today's deluge of water may have been due to problems with construction completed last year on the roof of the store.


    "It's because of the construction they did last year on the roof," the worker said. "They didn't do it right. There are large flat stones up there [that you walk across as you go into the store]. And with the heavy rain this morning, [the water] came through."



    =============



    The glass cube DOES NOT have large flat stones "up there" and not much of a roof to put it on.  AI's story sounded fishy to begin with.  Sounds like someone wanted to make it sound like it was a flaw in the glass structure itself, probably for click-bait.

  • Reply 14 of 36
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,650member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post




    Oh please.  This is typical media-spin that makes it sound like water somewhere made its way through the cube structure, or possibly through the cube itself.



    I was addressing your comment that nowhere in the AI article did it state water got into the glass cube. It did. That doesn't mean the AI article was accurate. 

  • Reply 15 of 36
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,136member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    I was addressing your comment that nowhere in the AI article did it state water got into the glass cube. It did. That doesn't mean the AI article was accurate. 





    Ah... you know what Gator? I can see how my comment could have been taken like that and for that I apologize.  I was reading it from a different perspective and immediately saw holes in the article - pun intended. :)



    Pisses me off that AI published that article with some key info missing.

  • Reply 16 of 36
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,927member
    This wouldnt have happened if Jobs was alive. /s
  • Reply 17 of 36
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,650member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post




    Ah... you know what Gator? I can see how my comment could have been taken like that and for that I apologize.  I was reading it from a different perspective and immediately saw holes in the article - pun intended. :)



    Pisses me off that AI published that article with some key info missing.



    Thanks!


     


    And I agree that AI appears to occasionally omit or mangle important facts in an effort to make articles more interesting.

  • Reply 18 of 36


    very good 

  • Reply 19 of 36
    zoolookzoolook Posts: 657member
    The front is always open, that's how it got in - the floor is also really flat at the entrance so a rapid build up of water could easily come down the stairs.

    It rained this morning like I've never seen before in New York - it was literally like being under a waterfall.
  • Reply 20 of 36
    curtis hannahcurtis hannah Posts: 1,834member
    Few stores will stay open when flooded, so apple must have worked hard for it to stay opened 24/7 this week.
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