- Title: View from the water of collapsed building in Florida
- Date: 27th June 2021
- Summary: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 27, 2021) (REUTERS) PAN FROM WATER OF COLLAPSED BUILDING MEDIUM SHOT OF CRANE AND TRUCK IN FRONT OF COLLAPSED BUILDING TAKEN FROM WATER POLICE BOATS ON WATER IN FRONT OF COLLAPSED BUILDING IN FLORIDA VIEW OF COLLAPSED BUILDING FROM WATER WIDE SHOT TAKEN FROM WATER OF COLLAPSED BUILDING NEXT TO OTHER BUILDINGS VIEW OF COLLAPSED BUILDING FROM WATER POLICE BOATS ON WATER IN FRONT OF COLLAPSED BUILDING
- Embargoed: 11th July 2021 20:53
- Keywords: Florida condo building collapsed buildin debris rubble search and rescue
- Location: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- City: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES
- Country: USA
- Topics: Disaster/Accidents,United States
- Reuters ID: LVA001EJ6FZNR
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A view from the water as the death toll rises to nine with more than 150 people still missing. Rescue teams on Sunday (June 27) kept picking through the rubble of the Florida condo building that collapsed three days ago.
Questions have now swirled about the tower's structural integrity.
Officials in Surfside, the shore town near Miami where the building stood along the oceanfront, said hope remained that search teams would discover survivors in air pockets that may have formed in the pancaked debris.
Even so, Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said on Sunday crews had yet to find any signs of life.
"It's an extremely difficult situation," Cominsky said.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at all times six to eight squads were working on the multi-story pile of shattered concrete and metal wreckage that lay next to the parts of Champlain Towers South that remain standing.
The searchers - including experts sent by Israel and Mexico - are using dogs, sonar, drones and infrared scanners.
A smoldering fire beneath the rubble that produced thick smoke and hindered the work of rescuers has abated, officials said. The mayor said a trench was dug to separate the areas of smoking debris from the rest of the rubble and rescuers are also using tunnels.
Some families of those missing have provided DNA samples to officials while others recounted narrow escapes. Police released the names of four victims who ranged in age from 54 to 83. They were a couple married for 58 years who were devoted to one another, a volunteer Little League baseball coach and the mother of a 15-year-old boy who was one of the few survivors of the collapse.
Officials said on Saturday that Miami-Dade County would audit all buildings more than 40 years old within the next 30 days to ensure their safety.
Surfside officials have released documents including an engineer's report from 2018 that found major structural damage beneath the pool deck and "concrete deterioration" in the underground parking garage of the 12-story condominium.
The report was produced for the Champlain Towers South condominium board in preparation for a major repair project set for this year.
Donna DiMaggio Berger, a lawyer who works with the condo association, said the issues outlined in the 2018 report were typical for older buildings in the area and did not alarm board members, all of whom lived in the tower with their families.
The report estimated it would cost $9.1 million to make the recommended repairs. Work had started on replacing the roof, but the pandemic slowed the project, she said.
Satellite data from the 1990s showed the building was sinking 1 to 3 millimeters per year, while surrounding buildings were stable, according to Florida International University professor Shimon Wdowinski.
Gregg Schlesinger, a lawyer and former general contractor who specializes in construction-failure cases, said it was clear to him that the structural issues identified in the 2018 report were the main cause.
He said investigations and the inevitable lawsuits will eventually paint a full picture of what caused the disaster.
"But we do know one thing: there was a structural failure," he said. "We know another thing: The structural failure should not have occurred."
(Production: Marco Bello, Deborah Lutterbeck) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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