This is NOT supposed to happen….
One can hope that maybe some people will be found alive in the wreckage….
As many as 159 people remained unaccounted for Friday morning, dozens more than officials had previously estimated, as rescuers used trained dogs and sonar in a frantic search through the rubble of the Champlain Towers condo complex in South Florida.
The known death toll had risen overnight to four, officials said, and it remained unclear precisely how many others had been inside the building at the time of the collapse.
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade County said officials “still have hope” to find survivors in the tangled concrete, where rescue crews used saws and jackhammers to tunnel through 13 collapsed floors that were stacked like pancakes.
“It feels like a nightmare; none of this feels real,” said Zoila Benezra, a resident of a nearby condo building who was volunteering at a community center where dozens of family members of the missing had gathered on Friday. “Everyone’s just been waiting.”
Rescuers focused their efforts on sounds that came from the pile, but officials cautioned that those sounds may only be from steel twisting or debris raining down.
In an interview on “Good Morning America,” Ms. Levine Cava said the rising death toll was “devastating news for families waiting for any hope of survival.”
The stunning collapse of the residential building, in the beachfront town of Surfside, left few answers and considerable questions about how a 40-year-old condo building could have suddenly crumbled as residents rested in their beds….
jamesb says
Hmmmm?
The Florida apartment building that suffered a devastating partial collapse was unstable, sinking for decades — and had recently developed sizable exterior cracks, according to reports.
The Champlain Towers South in Surfside had been sinking at a rate of about 2 millimeters a year in the 1990s, according to a 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor at Florida International University.
And on Thursday, town officials said the high-rise had been undergoing a county-mandated 40-year recertification process, which involves electrical and structural inspections.
But reports also have emerged about cracks in the 12-story structure….
More…
(I smell the Feds getting involved in this….)
jamesb says
Three years before the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex near Miami, a consultant found alarming evidence of “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and “abundant” cracking and crumbling of the columns, beams and walls of the parking garage under the 13-story building.
The engineer’s report helped shape plans for a multimillion-dollar repair project that was set to get underway soon — more than two and a half years after the building managers were warned — but the building suffered a catastrophic collapse in the middle of the night on Thursday, trapping sleeping residents in a massive heap of debris.
The complex’s management association had disclosed some of the problems in the wake of the collapse, but it was not until city officials released the 2018 report late Friday that the full nature of the concrete and rebar damage — most of it probably caused by years of exposure to the corrosive salt air along the South Florida coast — became chillingly apparent….
More…
jamesb says
The Feds ARE sending a building inspection team to look at the Miami building collapse…,
CG says
With each passing day, this just feels more and more horrific and beyond comprehension.
jamesb says
CG….
YES…..
The Miami thing should have heads rolling besides the civil suits that won’t bring anyone back….
jamesb says
Update…
Biden is going to inspect the Miami building collapse Friday….
…
The building inspector for the Building has gone on ‘leave’...
…
Criminal Grand Jury will hear evidence on the collapse …
The Feds will study the collapse
…
Lawsuits are coming in…
jamesb says
Sorrowful…
But a LOT of blame to go around on the Miami building collapse….And it comes back to money
For years before the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South complex near Miami, the condo board wrestled with how to come up with the $15 million needed to fix the building’s dilapidated roof, a poorly designed pool deck and crumbling support columns.
The problem: The homeowners’ association had just $800,000 in reserves, and getting the work done meant asking residents to shoulder huge special assessments ranging from $80,000 to $200,000 on each home. No one was eager to pay.
“The dirtiest words in the community-association industry are ‘special assessment,’” Donna DiMaggio Berger, a lawyer for the board, said of the effort to get 135 homeowners — of varying means and of multiple nationalities — to agree on a plan to do the repairs.
During the prolonged tumult over the needed renovations, several members of the board had quit in frustration….
More…
jamesb says
Inspector Who Said Florida Tower Appeared in ‘Good Shape’ Is Now Under Scrutiny
The chief building official of Surfside, Fla., had worked in at least six South Florida cities…
More…
jamesb says
Remainder of Florida Condo Is Demolished by Controlled Explosion
Workers demolished the remaining part of a collapsed building in South Florida using explosives after officials worried that the unstable structure might not withstand the powerful winds of an approaching tropical storm and that rescue workers could be endangered.
The demolition, which took place at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday, came after officials warned nearby residents to stay inside in case dust and other particles polluted the air, and as anguished families continued to await news in the search for 121 people missing since the building in Surfside collapsed more than a week ago. Rescue efforts had halted for much of the weekend amid growing worries about the unstable structure….
More…
jamesb says
WNYC 🎙
@WNYC
“If I was a building inspector in any one of those towns, I would be doing overtime right now,” a professor of Urban Planning at Rutgers University said about buildings in Atlantic City and coastal Long Island.
(I grew up by the beach and I can attest that salt from the ocean DOES work on metal in vehicles and other things)