A scary situation in Tecumseh.  A building collapsed in the downtown area over the weekend.  Building inspectors are trying to figure out why this happened, and if neighboring structures are safe.  Businesses are wondering if it could happen again.

Business owner, LeAnne Lowry said, "Once I saw this orange cloud of dust that came flying, and you couldn't see anything for just a few moments."

Lowry was just steps away when this Downtown Tecumseh building collapsed without any warning.  She says she's lucky her business, Lifestream Acupuncture isn't connected to the structure that fell.

"I prepared to secure my building and gather some of my belongings and headed to the back door unsure of what would happen next," Lowry explained.

Building inspectors were on scene today to determine if neighboring buildings were safe to go into.  6 businesses have been locked up and closed because of damage, as well as worries about other walls coming down.  The preliminary findings say the building fell because of old age and a lot of rain.

"It must be terribly stressful in this economy not to be able to operate even for a day or two.  I just hope as soon as possible they're able to get back into their businesses and get back to work," Lowry added.

Terry Van Brunt said, "Coming back and looking at it, it kind of worries me about these buildings back here."

Van Brunt works down the street from the rubble.  He says this is a major reason why all the buildings downtown need to be inspected.

"I took a level to some of our walls and all of them are leaning to the north.  So I don't know if it's safe to be in here or not," Van Brunt described.

The Tecumseh building inspector says they'll look into structural evaluations of other buildings, but it's an expensive process, and they can't make building owners check their structures.  As for business owners, they'll have to wait until these old walls are deemed structurally sound.  The Tecumseh building inspector says 2 of the tenants on the north side should be expedited soon.  But the others will have to wait until all the damage has been cleaned up, which could take weeks.