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

[Dontknow?]

Death toll rises to 22 in Surfside collapse as mayor authorizes building demolition

In a press conference late Friday afternoon, Cava said that emergency responders had found two additional bodies amid the debris of the Champlain Towers South building, with 188 accounted for and 126 still missing.

While Cava did not release details on the two additional victims found Friday, the previous 20 included four children and 16 adults, including the 7-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter.

Death toll rises to 22 in Surfside collapse as mayor authorizes building demolition

 

[moonlessnight]

but I mean, the police department?

Of course. They want all the evidence they can find to figure out what happened.

 

[JaxFlaGal]

REPORT PREPARED BY THE HISTORIC PRESERVATION COMMUNITY

This is an informative read about the adjacent property in Miami Beach (8701 Collins Avenue). While not done by a structural engineer, it does raise considerations that forensic engineers will hopefully examine. The document provides a graphical representation of the proximity between the new development's parking garage pilings and the pool deck of Champlain Towers, though I can't tell from the graphic how close the latter's pilings would be. On page 12, it states that the city of Miami Beach allowed the developer of that property to buy the road between the two properties, 87th Terrance, and to close it and make it part of their underground parking garage. (Washington Post article behind paywall says that was a 50’ wide road - https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2021/07/02/87park-champlain-towers-collapse/ ). Per the plans on page 14, only a concrete sidewalk was left, to allow footpath access to the beach.

That would effectively have blocked block any ability for Champlain Towers to have heavy equipment access their pool deck via 87th Terrace. No dump trucks, no cranes, etc staged on or using that road because the road was removed by the Eight-Seven Park Condo Development. Also no options to use that for temporary parking for residents while the garage was closed for the work, or for construction workers (from the 2015 Google Map view, it was clearly used for construction worker parking for 8701 Collins Ave for a period of time before they built their parking garage on/over the former road). From this article https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252537808.html, it appears that challenges with having sufficient space for construction crews and equipment impacted getting the Champlain Towers project out to bid. Per that article, it also appears the Surfside building department was slow in responding to the Condo Association trying to get approvals for some of the renovation plans. From that same article, the Condo Association submitted an application for work in May with no City response until June 23, when the director of the Surfside building department, James McGuinness, finally responded with a list of logistics questions. It was just 14 hours before the tower collapsed.

MOO: It really makes me question the effectiveness of these beach towns' building and planning departments - not just Surfside's now. Perhaps buildings at the city limits in those areas should be under stronger county-level approval and permitting processes, versus at the city level? Just like some Florida developments are considered DRI's (Developments of Regional Impact) because of size and multi-county impacts, it would seem like eliminating roads and extending physical construction so close to another jurisdiction would warrant more review at the county level. While I think the causes of the building collapse may be a myriad of compounding issues, the actions of the adjacent developer and the inactions of the Surfside building department are both probably more straws on the camel's back. MOO.

 

[TGIRecovered]

Has anyone brought up the possibility that the upcoming storm might bring the building down?

 

[GatorFL]

but I mean, the police department?

You've never seen a PD ask for help before?

 

[GatorFL]

Has anyone brought up the possibility that the upcoming storm might bring the building down?

We're not expected to get a direct hit at this time. Weatherman said not to bother with hurricane shutters.

 

[JaxFlaGal]

This one breaks my heart in particular

"the daughter of a 10-year veteran Miami firefighter, was at Champlain Towers South with her mother, grandparents, and aunt when the collapse of the northeastern side of the 12-story building happened last week in Surfside."

"The spokesman for the department, said there was a powerful message for the first responders who are grieving for their colleague’s daughter: Spend quality time with loved ones. 'Tell them that you love them, that you care, because a lot of times those precious moments can be taken away from you at a moment’s notice,' Carroll said."

Parents, hug your children for me tonight. They are all such blessings.

Everyone, I'm removing the local10.com news link to this article (and the condo #) for the time being. As recently as 90 minutes ago, when the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue twitter feed published 3 additional names of recovered deceased family, they had listed this child as "name not available, at the family's request". I intend to honor that request now that I'm aware of it. (I've also reported myself to the mods to review the post and make sure I've not mucked it up in the process)

 

[moonlessnight]

In criminal investigations I have.

You've never seen a PD ask for help before?

 

[SuziQ]

‘Significant Work to Be Done' Years Before Condo Collapse

 

[glamourkitty1922]

I mean " Adjunct Professor at FIU, Florida International University, School of Architecture Courses included – Construction Drawing in AutoCAD, Hospitality Design & Morris Lapidus Survey"
Seems they are certified

Actually those courses are available at many high schools as well. They are not construction or engineering related. I'm waiting for the opinions of expert engineers.

 

[SuziQ]

Crestview Towers condo in North Miami Beach being evacuated due to unsafe conditions – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale

Quoting my own post. This building was built in 1972. And the 40 year certification inspection was only completed last January. Isn't that about 10 years past due???

 

[glamourkitty1922]

I hope the end result will be that condo homeowners will be more willing to maintain and repair their buildings. I hope this is the last of deaths from neglecting repairs.

 

[glamourkitty1922]

Quoting my own post. This building was built in 1972. And the 40 year certification inspection was only completed last January. Isn't that about 10 years past due???

Perhaps it's not when the building turns 40 but every 40 years. That building is older than the 40 year recertification mandate. The mandate came a some years after the DEA building collapse in 1974. Also I believe they are given a time period to make required repairs and upgrades. Here is an interesting article about the recertification John Pistorino, The Man Behind Requiring 40-Year Recertification, Talks Surfside Condo Collapse

 

[Herat]

Here's another building about 20 minutes from Surfside that is under an evacuation order.

It seems less affluent than the Champlain Towers and missed it's 40-year and 50-year review

Many of the occupants are Latino seniors who have no place to go and no family to go to.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/02/crestview-north-miami-beach-evacuation/

 

[Eloise]

why are they double posting???

but I mean, the police department?

Negligence can be criminal
Fraud (e.g if there were bribes passed along the way somewhere) can be criminal
It is prudent for police to be involved imo

tangent: this is very much having international impact and is brought up in this article from today regarding dodgy high rise here in Sydney (go incognito to read that article without logging in)

 

[rainynights]

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Alfredo Lopez and his wife Marian were asleep when the first thundering blast jolted them awake. Moments later, a second boom, much louder than the first, shook their bed on the sixth floor of their Miami apartment.

Alfredo rushed to wake his 24-year-old son Michael, urging him to get dressed, before running to the balcony window.

“All I could see was just white dust, very thick. I could barely see the balcony railing.”

The lights cut out and the emergency alarm came on, warning the residents of Champlain Towers South to evacuate.

The Lopez family — Alfredo is 61, his wife Marian, 67 — lives on the street side of the condo that's still partially intact, but when he opened the front door half of the building was gone. A jagged five-foot chunk of flooring barely left enough room to escape.

“There was no hallway, no ceiling, no apartments, no walls, nothing.”

“I was petrified. I really thought, ‘This is it. We are going to die’,” Alfredo Lopez said.

[...]

As condo crashed down, they escaped through smoke and ruin (more at link)
July 3, 2021, 12:01 AM ET • 5 min read

 

[moonlessnight]

Horrifying.

I can't figure out if the "blasts" and "booms" people heard occurred before the building fell, or were they the building falling. I've heard there were three loud "thunder" crashes. Was this the three sections collapsing, or were they heard before the building fell?

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Alfredo Lopez and his wife Marian were asleep when the first thundering blast jolted them awake. Moments later, a second boom, much louder than the first, shook their bed on the sixth floor of their Miami apartment.

Alfredo rushed to wake his 24-year-old son Michael, urging him to get dressed, before running to the balcony window.

“All I could see was just white dust, very thick. I could barely see the balcony railing.”

The lights cut out and the emergency alarm came on, warning the residents of Champlain Towers South to evacuate.

The Lopez family — Alfredo is 61, his wife Marian, 67 — lives on the street side of the condo that's still partially intact, but when he opened the front door half of the building was gone. A jagged five-foot chunk of flooring barely left enough room to escape.

“There was no hallway, no ceiling, no apartments, no walls, nothing.”

“I was petrified. I really thought, ‘This is it. We are going to die’,” Alfredo Lopez said.

[...]

As condo crashed down, they escaped through smoke and ruin (more at link)
July 3, 2021, 12:01 AM ET • 5 min read

 

[moonlessnight]

This sounds like the "big boom" happened before the building collapsed and was not the sound of the building collapsing - at least the first "big boom" wasn't.

“We ran out of the building, and I told my kids, run as fast as you can, crossing Collins. We just crossed Collins. God was waiting for us to leave the building. And then another big boom. Then we didn't see anything. It was suddenly white after the big boom and with white clouds all over,” Nir told CNN.
Mother and daughter said they saw garage collapse before running from Surfside condo

"Startled by the noise, those living nearby ran outside. Some thought they had heard a bomb going off."
Miami condo collapse: A boom, then the ground shook

Mr. Lopez is still struggling to process what happened when he awoke to two loud booms on Thursday night, looked out his apartment door and saw there nothing left of his hallway: no apartment to his left, no apartments in front of him — only an eerie silence and darkness.
Hope for Survivors Dwindles at Collapsed Condo Near Miami Beach as Rescuers Find More Bodies

June 24: At around 1:20 a.m., while many residents were sleeping, the condo tower shakes and then partially collapses, destroying about 55 apartment units.

Susana Alvarez, 62, is in her bed on the 10th floor when she begins to feel shaking.

"Like I was on a ride," Alvarez said in an interview with NPR. "The bed was shaking. My balcony doors opened. And it felt like the longest thunder I had ever heard in my life."

npr.org/sections/live-updates-miami-area-condo-collapse/2021/06/29/1010976101/timeline-what-we-know-so-far-about-what-led-up-to-the-surfside-condo-collapse

 

[moonlessnight]

I can't see the article bc it's NYT and I don't have a subscription. I did find another article that stated that the sister of the First Lady of Paraguay was in the building with her 3 children. I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet. So terrible.

"A total of 22 South Americans were missing in the collapse — nine from Argentina, six from Paraguay, four from Venezuela and three from Uruguay, according to officials in those countries.

Among the Paraguayans were Sophia López Moreira, the sister of first lady Silvana Abdo, her husband Luis Pettengill, her three children and the family's assistant, the country's authorities said.

President Mario Abdo's activities were cancelled for Thursday and Friday so that he could be with his wife while she waited for word on the fate of her sister and her family, Paraguay's government announced.

Paraguay’s presidential palace told AP the first lady was planning to travel to Miami, Florida, on Thursday on a private plane."
What do we know about the apartment building collapse in Miami, Florida?

Dispatch calls: ‘She’s stuck in between 2 beds,’ but responders couldn’t get to Surfside victim

This could have been the family from apt #304, #204 or #501.
Floor by Floor, the Missing People and Lost Lives Near Miami

 

[indicolite22]

Updated NYT graphic with apartment layouts and statuses of the missing: Floor by Floor, the Missing People and Lost Lives Near Miami

More names have been added to the graphic and luckily more units are labeled empty (11 units, two from which people escaped).

Except for one (unit #911), all apartments from which victims were found and identified so far (11 apts total), were on the northern side of the building. All were on or above the 6th floor, but none from the penthouse floor. Four units were in the part that collapsed last. Additionally, one victim from that part (5th floor) was recently identified, but is not included in the graphic.

There are probably still some errors (e.g. 4th floor: missing person listed in wrong apt).

In the garage entrance video after the deck collapse there's a light in the apt #202, but according to the NYT graphic, the residents were away. Did they escape or were out and left their lights on?