— 14 Brownsville Herald (Martinez). “`It was a horrific feeling’; Today is 28^th anniversary…”

— 14 Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting. “Store Collapse After Structural Mod…”

— 14 Los Angeles Times. “Texas – Store-Collapse Suits Bring $33 Million,” Feb 20, 1990.

Narrative Information

Feb 20, 1990, LA Times: “Relatives of 13 people killed and 32 injured in the collapse of a department store shill share a $33.1 million out-of-court settlement. The three-floor Amigo Store collapsed during a thunderstorm on July 7, 1988. A 14^th person was killed, but relatives did not sue. The settlement came from the store, the city of Brownsville and several construction companies and materials suppliers.” (Los Angeles Times. “Texas – Store-Collapse Suits Bring $33 Million,” Feb 20, 1990.)

Exponent Engineering: “In July 1988, a three-story department store collapsed in Brownsville, Texas, during a severe thunderstorm. The accident killed 14 people and injured 47, many of whom had sought refuge from the storm under the canopy. Exponent was asked to determine the cause of the collapse.

“As part of rescue and clean-up operations, all building rubble was disposed of before any failure investigation could be conducted. To complicate matters further, as-built drawings of the building, which had been expanded from two stories to three stories sometime prior to the collapse, did not exist. Exponent engineers painstakingly sifted through tons of debris to locate all structural elements and reassemble the as-built configuration. From the patterns of deformation observed in the reassembled members, we were able to identify the collapse mechanism. Subsequently, we constructed a non-linear finite-element computer model of a crucial structural assembly, analytically replicated the failure mechanism, and used the model to study the contributions of various factors.

“The Amigo Store building was constructed without benefit of engineering. Structural steel beams and columns were stacked in “building-block” fashion without regard to structural stability. The ad hoc design was barely strong enough to carry the added weight of the third story and stored inventory. A few inches of water dumped on the roof by the intense downpour was all it took to trigger instability and the resulting catastrophic collapse.” (Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting. “Store Collapse After Structural Modification”)

Brownsville Herald, July 7, 2016 retrospective: “….The following is the list of those who died in the July 7, 1988, collapse of La Tienda Amigo in downtown Brownsville, according to Brownsville Herald archives.

Israel Carrera – Mexico

Leticia Carrera – Mexico

Martha Minerva Saenz Pena – Mexico

Blanca Fabiola Avalos Colunga – Mexico

Mya Mena – Brownsville

Paloma Blanca Lira – Brownsville

Maria Dolores Acosta – Brownsville

Anotonia Reyes de Acosta – Brownsville

Juan R. Perez – Brownsville

Marisela Villarreal de Rivera – Mexico

Graciela Cortinas de Lopez – Mexico

Bertha C. Muzquiz – Brownsville

Rosalio C. Ortiz – Mexico

Martha Idalia Alvarez de Munoz – Brownsville.”

(Brownsville Herald, TX (Laura B. Martinez). “`It was a horrific feeling’; Today is 28^th anniversary of La Tienda Amigo collapse.” 7-7-2016.)

Sources

Brownsville Herald, TX (Laura B. Martinez). “`It was a horrific feeling’; Today is 28^th anniversary of La Tienda Amigo collapse.” 7-7-2016. Accessed 9-28-2016 at: http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/local/article_748c1de8-0765-5894-85fd-b1b42b2b5b9a.html

Exponent Engineering and Scientific Consulting. “Store Collapse After Structural Modification.” Accessed 8-8-2009 at: http://www.exponent.com/store_collapse_after_structural_modification/

Los Angeles Times. “Texas – Store-Collapse Suits Bring $33 Million,” 2-20-1990. Accessed at: http://articles.latimes.com/1990-02-20/news/mn-1005_1

1988 — July 7, La Tienda Amigo Dept. Store Collapse; heavy rain, Brownsville, TX — 14