COLLAPSE OF TEXAS TOWER NO. 4 275 



Mr. Kuss. Much weaker. It was worse than the time I told them 

 it was dangerous. 



Mr. Kendall. It had gotten worse all the time, because you had 

 some more damage in the December storm, or you discovered some 

 after the storm ? 



Mr. Kuss. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Kendall. Do you have any judgm.ent as to the percent of 

 strength at that time ? 



Mr. Kuss. After Donna ? 



Mr. Kendall. After the Decem^ber storm. 



Mr. Kuss. You see 



Mr. Kendall. As of January 12, 1961, say, Mr. Kuss ? 



Mr. Kuss. Sir, I was almost surprised the tower stood up. 



Senator Stennis. "^-N^iat was that, now? You were surprised that 

 it stood up ? 



Mr. Kuss. Yes, sir. 



Mr. Kendall. During what period ? 



Mr. Kuss. During any of the moderate weather periods that they 

 had. 



Mr. Kendall. So you made no estimate in figures of the remain- 

 ing strength of the tower and have none now ? 



Mr. Kuss. No, sir. You see, the percentage of residual safety is, 

 when you are getting down to 95, you are on 



Mr. Kendall. But the intensity of the storm during which the 

 tower ultimately collapsed was nowhere near the design criteria, 

 was it, Mr. Kuss ? 



Mr. Kuss. We don't know. 



Mr. Kendall. "V^Hiat is your information on that? It was an or- 

 dinary winter storm, was it not ? 



Mr. Kuss. I supyjose, but we had no figures on that. 



Mr. Kendall. Well, it was not a storm involving winds of 125 

 miles an hour and breaking waves of 35 feet, was it ? 



Mr. Kuss. No, I don't think so. 



REASON FOR COLLAPSE 



Mr. Kendall. We are faced now, Mr. Kuss, with the tower col- 

 lapse, and we have several alternatives — faulty design, possibly; 

 faulty construction; faulty repair: or a combination of all of these 

 things. 



Can you or Mr. Rutledge tell us now what made this tower collapse? 



Mr. Rutledge. If I may answer, sir, from information that we 

 have heard, and I believe it was part of the testimony here, the tower 

 during Hurricane Donna was subjected to forces that were very much 

 in excess of the design criteria forces. 



Mr. Kendall. Does that conclude your observation on that ? 



Mr. Rutledge. These forces of Hurricane Donna, as has been tes- 

 tified, broke two of the panels of bracing in the tow^er. With two pan- 

 els of bracing completely gone, the tower was in a very dangerous 

 condition. It definitely did not have strength to resist the design cri- 

 teria, and it could resist only something very much smaller. 



As Mr. Kuss has testified, it was essentially impossible and ex- 

 tremely dangerous to say what it could resist. 



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