LAKE CHARLES, La. — The Capital One tower in Lake Charles came tumbling down today.
For 43 years, the 22-story skyscraper was standing in Lake Charles. Before its demolition, it was the tallest building and known as the most recognizable landmark in the city.
"It's the first thing you see when you come downtown," said Slade Sykes, who works near where the tower stood.
In August of 2020, Hurricane Laura hit Lake Charles, damaging the glass tower. It had since been sitting empty.
Today, a demolition crew set the building up to safely implode.
"The glass was shaking at first. It's like they blew the middle of it out and then the rest of it," Sykes said. "Like it filled with air on the inside, and it sounded like cannons going off inside of it."
After the implosion, crews immediately began working in the area around the tower, which had been taped off as a strict off-limits zone, to get it cleaned up and back open to the public.
In downtown Lake Charles, where there was once a tower of glass in the sky is now empty.
