City addresses Gulf Shores deck collapse

GULF SHORES, Ala. (WALA) - All the spring breakers who were injured after a deck collapse have been released from the hospital, according to new information released during a news conference.

Investigators are now looking into what went wrong.

"Crack of thunder"

Clay Elkin and his family were just two doors down from a party that went wrong Monday afternoon.

Spring Break students, mostly from Texas, were crowded on the back deck of this house when it collapsed. Elkins and his wife, who is a physician, ran over to help out.

“It just sounded like a big crack of thunder,” Clay Elkins said. “There were people fleeing and it looked like some injured people were fleeing and we just wanted to make sure that those who needed treatment didn’t run off.”

Photos: Deck Collapses on spring breakers in Gulf Shores

Six students had to be treated at the hospital, but all were later released.

The students that were renting the house were kicked out Monday night, but they were allowed to return Tuesday morning to get their belongings.

Investigation on

The most obvious issue is how many students were on the deck when it collapsed. Elkins said while there were quite a few he didn’t see excessive numbers.

“They weren’t disruptive or anything like that,” Elkins told us. “Just, the thing gave way and I’m reading 40 or 50 people on the deck, I never saw that many.”

Whatever the number, it was enough to cause a catastrophic failure.

Grant Brown, with the City of Gulf Shores said, “Unfortunately you can have the best building codes in the world and if you have an over-capacity situation at some point there is a maximum capacity of that structure.”

Brown said building inspectors are checking every nail and screw.

However, the home was built before stringent codes were passed in 2009 and the only way this might have been prevented was a call to the police.

“Call the police, let the police go down and investigate. And if the police are driving by and see that type of situation, obviously they’re going to stop and try to inspect to be sure people are being safe,” Brown said.