Cement retaining wall crushes cars in Poplar Bluff parking lot as heavy rain saturates area Saturday

Poplar Bluff Police received a call at 5:30 p.m. Saturday regarding a collapsed retaining wall in a parking lot next to the Black River Coliseum.

The parking lot where the incident happened is owned by the city of Poplar Bluff, however, the party responsible for the wall appears to be in some dispute.

“We may have to have some surveying done to determine who is responsible for the wall,” Poplar Bluff City Manager Robert Knodell said. “It appears to have been a freak incident.”

The wall — a long cement wall that lined the west side of the gravel parking lot — fell at some point Feb. 15, and crushed five different vehicles that were parked below it.

“What is strange is that the wall doesn’t appear to have had any damage before falling,” Knodell said. “It was all in one piece.”

Deputy Police Chief Keith Hefner said there is no incident report on the matter.

“Right now, we’re treating it as an act of God,” Hefner explained. “There were no injuries. We’re glad that no one got hurt.”

For the time being, the five vehicles — one of which is a Black River Coliseum pickup truck — remain trapped under the wall.

It is unknown if Saturday’s heavy rainfall contributed to the situation, but 1.85-inches of rain had fallen in the six-hour period between noon and 6 p.m. Saturday.