FL- 12 Story Condo Partial Building Collapse, many still unaccounted for, Miami, 24 June 2021 #2

[Warwick1991]

IMO, the pile driving so close to Champlain Towers South may have played a role in the collapse. The concrete was already weakened in the garage area, and the motion from the pile driving operations may have caused the weakened concrete to lose what was left of its cohesion.

The fact that the developers of the new tower offered the condominium association money is very revealing. Developers don’t give away money. The developers must have discussed the possibility of damage from pile driving with their own engineers, and realized that what they were doing had destructive potential.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Death toll up to 32 in Miami Beach-area condo building collapse (nbcnews.com)

Search efforts were paused briefly overnight due to lightning. Officials continue to monitor Tropical Storm Elsa.

The confirmed death toll in the partial collapse of a Miami Beach-area condo building rose to 32 Tuesday, the 13th day of an ongoing search for victims.

Four bodies were recovered overnight, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a morning news briefing. Twenty-six of the victims have been identified, she said.

While 113 people remain "potentially unaccounted for," only 70 of those people are confirmed to have been in Champlain Towers South in Surfside when half of it crumbled in the early morning of June 24, she said.

The numbers of people accounted for, which now stands at 191, and people unaccounted for have fluctuated as detectives work to audit a list of those reported missing since the collapse...

 

[al66pine]

Priorities?

It does seem like their priorities were a little scrambled. Why work on the roof when the foundation of the building was the red flag? And worrying about parking when there was so much evidence of serious deterioration of the structural integrity of the building?

@branmuffin bbm Yes, "scrambled priorities" is the perfect description, at least for some ppl involved.
Could the swimming pool deck, more parking spaces, etc. have been the squeaky
wheels some condo owners complained about, prompting the condo board to respond w the oil can? Structural issues? Well, out of sight, out of mind?

Did any condo owners think the building(s) were actually in imminent danger of collapsing when it did? Doubtful.

 

[dixiegirl1035]

New Video Of First Responders On The Pile Of The Collapsed Condo In Surfside

 

[SouthAussie]

Priorities?

@branmuffin bbm Yes, "scrambled priorities" is the perfect description, at least for some ppl involved.
Could the swimming pool deck, more parking spaces, etc. have been the squeaky
wheels some condo owners complained about, prompting the condo board to respond w the oil can? Structural issues? Well, out of sight, out of mind?

Did any condo owners think the building(s) were actually in imminent danger of collapsing when it did? Doubtful.

Well, we know of at least one person who was scared of the building collapsing. The sister of one of the residents ... her brother and his family lived in the unit their father owned.


Chi said her father has owned the unit in Champlain Towers South for about 30 years, and that leaks were a chronic problem.
“The last time I was there, I looked at him and I said, ‘I am serious. This building is going to collapse.’ ”
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252324218.html

 

[Dontknow?]

Bloomberg Quicktake
@Quicktake

UPDATE: The Surfside death toll rises to 36 as first responders continue to clear rubble from the condo collapse site. 109 people are still missing

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Sisters in Surfside condo collapse buried in same coffin

"The bodies of two young sisters pulled from the rubble of a Florida condo building – so tiny that the 4 and 10-year-olds were placed in the same casket – were buried alongside their parents Tuesday, their white coffin draped with innocent pink and purple ribbons.

Lucia Guara, “Lulu bear,” loved watching “Jeopardy” with her dad, dancing and doing yoga with her mother. Her baby sister, Emma, was the princess of the family, a natural artist, who enjoyed her dad’s piggyback rides and cuddling with her mom, family member Digna Rodriguez said.

The hourlong funeral was held at the family’s Catholic parish, St. Joseph, just three blocks from where the Champlain Towers South building partially collapsed."

 

[Marysmith]

Sisters in Surfside condo collapse buried in same coffin

"The bodies of two young sisters pulled from the rubble of a Florida condo building – so tiny that the 4 and 10-year-olds were placed in the same casket – were buried alongside their parents Tuesday, their white coffin draped with innocent pink and purple ribbons.

Lucia Guara, “Lulu bear,” loved watching “Jeopardy” with her dad, dancing and doing yoga with her mother. Her baby sister, Emma, was the princess of the family, a natural artist, who enjoyed her dad’s piggyback rides and cuddling with her mom, family member Digna Rodriguez said.

The hourlong funeral was held at the family’s Catholic parish, St. Joseph, just three blocks from where the Champlain Towers South building partially collapsed."

Jesus. So senseless.

 

[LadyL]

Uncle of 15-year-old who survived Surfside condo collapse thanks man who pulled teen from rubble - CNN

 

[coastal]

New Video Of First Responders On The Pile Of The Collapsed Condo In Surfside

Good Lord, they are sifting that mound by the trowel-ful, one careful handful after another. Gently.

All my respect to these good people.

 

[SouthAussie]

It might be getting close to the time when they (officially) switch to recovery mode.


“We’re actively searching as aggressively as we can,” Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said at a news conference. But he added: “Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive. The key things — void spaces, living spaces — we’re not seeing anything like that.”

While officials still call the efforts a search-and-rescue operation, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said families of those still missing are preparing for news of “tragic loss.”

“I think everybody will be ready when it’s time to move to the next phase,” said Levine Cava, who stressed that crews would use the same care as they go through the rubble even after their focus shifts from searching for survivors to recovering the dead.

Workers have been freed to search a broader area since the weekend demolition of the unstable remaining portion of the condo building. Officials said that gave rescuers access to spaces that were previously closed off, including bedrooms where people were believed to be sleeping at the time of the disaster.

Searchers at collapse site 'not seeing anything positive'

 

[anneg]

Sisters in Surfside condo collapse buried in same coffin

"The bodies of two young sisters pulled from the rubble of a Florida condo building – so tiny that the 4 and 10-year-olds were placed in the same casket – were buried alongside their parents Tuesday, their white coffin draped with innocent pink and purple ribbons.

Lucia Guara, “Lulu bear,” loved watching “Jeopardy” with her dad, dancing and doing yoga with her mother. Her baby sister, Emma, was the princess of the family, a natural artist, who enjoyed her dad’s piggyback rides and cuddling with her mom, family member Digna Rodriguez said.

The hourlong funeral was held at the family’s Catholic parish, St. Joseph, just three blocks from where the Champlain Towers South building partially collapsed."

This is just heartbreaking.

 

[anneg]

New Video Of First Responders On The Pile Of The Collapsed Condo In Surfside

The careful, slow process of removing debris made me think of digging at an archaeological site.

From Wikipedia:
In archaeology, excavation is the exposure, processing and recording of archaeological remains. An excavation site or "dig" is the area being studied. ... During excavation, archaeologists often use stratigraphic excavation to remove phases of the site one layer at a time.

But these searchers are looking for human remains. I can't imagine how extremely difficult and distressing that work must be.

 

[LadyL]

The two people who lived in Australia have been found.


The bodies of an Australian man and his wife are among the latest to be pulled from the rubble of a collapsed Florida apartment building, taking the official death toll to 28.
Miami-Dade police on Tuesday formally identified Ingrid and Tzvi Ainsworth as victims of the Champlain Towers South building collapse in Surfside, Florida.

After spending nearly 20 years living in Australia, the couple moved back to the US four years ago to be closer to some of their seven children and extended family.
The couple’s niece, Devorah Leah Phillips, described her aunt as very loving.
“She fills up everyone’s buckets with an abundance of love and compliments that there is no space for negativity,” Ms Phillips said in an Instagram post last week.

Two Australians have been found in the wreckage

they're actually Canadian ...or at least she is

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/flor...ZpqXk_Io5_cj5Xm_FwtPbYSXdqbTthDecoN2ePVLpg48U

 

[al66pine]

Anticipating Bldg Collapse? Right Then?

Well, we know of at least one person who was scared of the building collapsing. The sister of one of the residents ... her brother and his family lived in the unit their father owned.
Chi said her father has owned the unit in Champlain Towers South for about 30 years, and that leaks were a chronic problem.“The last time I was there, I looked at him and I said, ‘I am serious. This building is going to collapse.’ https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252324218.html

@SouthAussie bbm Good catch. Thanks for this reminder. I'm seeing this ^ example differently, because the statement was not made by a condo owner-resident, but by a woman whose father owns the unit and whose brother & family lived there.

If some owner-residents believed the building(s) were actually in imminent danger of collapsing when it did, I cannot imagine the cognitive dissonance they felt every minute they spent in the bldg before then.

I tried to think of an equivalent situation. Bungee jumping? Getting into a car w a drunken, stoned driver for a ride home? Walking a tightrope across Niagara Falls?
No, short durations, not really similar.
Even a homeowner of a one or two story house who feared imminent instant, total collapse, would likely not face severe personal injury or death like in a 12 story condo.
Still scary, scary, scary. my2ct.

As for Champlain Tower, heartbreaking. Bless all participants in that physically and mentally taxing rescue/ recovery effort.

 

[ilovewings]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/06/champlain-towers-collapse-survivors/

What does the future hold for survivors? A great article about the survivors and what is being done to assist them with everything from getting a driver's license to finding them housing. It is daunting to think about all that these survivors will have to go through--- At least they survived of course.

 

[Warwick1991]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/06/champlain-towers-collapse-survivors/

What does the future hold for survivors? A great article about the survivors and what is being done to assist them with everything from getting a driver's license to finding them housing. It is daunting to think about all that these survivors will have to go through--- At least they survived of course.

One problem that the article noted is that some will face having a mortgage on a property that no longer exists. Most will have insurance for the interior of their units, but it might not cover a mortgage. The insurance on the building probably won’t cover all of the owners adequately.

 

[NoSI]

Hi All,

An article based on interview with Israeli Col. Golan Vach. It's dated the 4th, so a few days old. If already posted, please disregard.


Israeli Col. Golan Vach no longer believes there are Surfside building collapse survivors under rubble

Israeli Col. Golan Vach no longer believes there are Surfside building collapse survivors under rubble

I just thought I post this as there was a question about who Israeli team is upthread. I realize its a couple days later now and the remainder of the building was demolished.

 

[zecats]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/06/champlain-towers-collapse-survivors/

What does the future hold for survivors? A great article about the survivors and what is being done to assist them with everything from getting a driver's license to finding them housing. It is daunting to think about all that these survivors will have to go through--- At least they survived of course.

I just recently discovered that my son-in-law's best friend (who also lives in Florida), his parents own a unit in the building...in the part that did not collapse on its own. They were not in the building at the time the collapse occurred, but they have obviously now lost everything inside. Sadly, he told me that some of their friends are deceased, while a few more are still missing. I'm not able to begin to imagine the emotions they are experiencing at this time.

 

[Marysmith]

I just recently discovered that my son-in-law's best friend (who also lives in Florida), his parents own a unit in the building...in the part that did not collapse on its own. They were not in the building at the time the collapse occurred, but they have obviously now lost everything inside. Sadly, he told me that some of their friends are deceased, while a few more are still missing. I'm not able to begin to imagine the emotions they are experiencing at this time.

I’m so sorry. It’s just incomprehensible.