By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Wrecking crews began bright and early Monday busting a large hole in the foot-thick flood wall so they can get at the pile of rubble that, before Sunday morning's implosion, was Cinergy Field.

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See Cinergy Field come crashing down (Glenn Hartong photos)

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"We've got to build a road into the center so we can get the heavy equipment in," said Mike O'Rourke, president of O'Rourke Wrecking Co., the Cincinnati firm that brought the 32-year-old stadium down.

In pouring rain Monday morning, O'Rourke crews began cutting a 40-foot hole in the southwest corner of the flood wall that will give them access to the massive pieces of concrete and steel inside the ring.

"The rain slowed us down a little today, but we made good progress," Mr. O'Rourke said.

In Sunday's implosion, the 15-foot flood wall served as a natural receptacle for the falling columns. Eventually, the flood wall itself will be torn down.

Within a week, O'Rourke Wrecking crews will have completed a dirt road into the center of the stadium rubble and can begin crushing concrete blocks and separating out the structural and reinforcing steel.

O'Rourke Wrecking has an Aug. 31 deadline for clearing the site, which, by summer 2004, will be home to the Reds Hall of Fame building. Company officials say they will beat that deadline. By the time the job is finished, 100,000 cubic yards of concrete and 22,500 tons of steel will have been hauled away.

Before Sunday O'Rourke had hauled about 35,000 cubic yards of concrete from the stadium plaza and parking garage. O'Rourke Wrecking began using heavy equipment to demolish the garage almost immediately after Cinergy Field closed for good in September.

The steel will be salvaged and the crushed concrete will be recycled.

• Complete implosion coverage