Work underway to remove leaning concrete slab in SoMa

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Work is underway in San Francisco to remove a broken piece of equipment that caused a concrete slab to lean atop a high-rise under construction in the South of Market neighborhood.

The failure caused panic and evacuations at more than a dozen buildings on Howard Street and near the 33 Tehama skyscraper.

Thursday morning, people came back to the area with confidence. "I know they've done their work so I trust it," one passerby told ABC7 News.

RELATED: Howard Street reopens after building concerns in SoMa

Wednesday, people in the area were told it was too dangerous to be in the area because one of the hydraulic pumps on the project failed.

The fire department gave everyone the "all clear" around 9:00 PM Wednesday.

Thursday, many workers were anxious to catch up on time they lost during the evacuations.

"It'll put us behind on any projects we had ongoing. Any work we were trying to get done yesterday gets pushed back to today. It's probably about two hours spread out 50 people," said Jonathan Maier, who was evacuated Wednesdays.

At Kate O'Brien's, a bar nearby, Marcus Huynh walked into work and found a huge mess he had to clean up.

RELATED: Officials say SoMa construction issue stemmed from hydraulic strut failure

"All the dishes and everything was still... because they had to leave, you know, right away yesterday so they didn't have a chance to clean up anything," said Huynh

Like other businesses in SoMA, they are hoping to make up for business lost during the evacuations.

"We were really busy up until 4:00 PM, that's when everyone had to leave. So we lost a little money but today will be a normal day, so we will be fine," said Huynh

Right now there is no word on when the work on the slab will be complete or when the street will open back up.

The construction company will notify the fire department when it is done. Then the fire department will inspect the job and notify the city, who will open up Tehama.