Four-storey building collapses in New York

A building in New York spectacularly imploded without warning yesterday, sending pedestrians scrambling for safety.

NBC 4 New York obtained CCTV footage of the abandoned four-storey building, which was scheduled to be torn down, collapsing on itself in the middle of a busy Brooklyn afternoon.

The first three floors came down in a matter of seconds, before the entire structure was suddenly demolished in a spectacular cloud of flying rubble and smoke.

Passers-by had to run for cover and three people were hurt, including a cyclist who was hit by falling debris.

Rahem Floyd, who was in a nearby restaurant came rushing out to check out what was going on.

"We came out, there was a whole bunch of smoke coming down the block, there was people running down the block," he said.

Some subway services were temporarily affected and a building next door is being evaluated by authorities.