Photo by SpecialEd98.

First, an earthquake damaged one of the National Cathedral’s finials. Then, Hurricane Irene knocked over a tree on its grounds. And now today, as a heavy band of storms plowed its way through the District, a crane working on repairing the Cathedral actually fell over, damaging the Herb Cottage and Church House buildings and several vehicles. Initial reports were unclear about whether or not there were any injuries on the scene of the collapse, but it appears that only the crane operator has been evaluated so far.

NBCWashington captured video of the fallen crane:

Of course, the Cathedral isn’t the only thing getting battered by today’s storms — WAMU actually went off the air for about six minutes after lightning struck its tower, and this morning’s flash flood watch has been upped to a warning.