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

[GatorFL]

It says Miami-Dade County Code Sec. 8-5. Surfside is within Miami Dade County.

Sorry I only noticed this: "From City of Miami Building Dept:"

 

[sds71]

A fourth lawsuit has been filed stemming from the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside.

Relatives of Harold Rosenberg, who lived in Unit 211 and remains missing after the collapse, filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association, Morabito Consultants and SD Architects. The lawsuit says the town of Surfside will eventually be named as a defendant.

The four parties “ignored obvious and shocking warning signs and indications that a catastrophe was imminent,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants knew for years leading up to this deadly collapse that the Champlain Towers South building posed an immediate and grave threat to the lives of the residents and occupants of the building, yet [they] failed to take the necessary steps to protect the building’s occupants.”


The suit also claims that Surfside’s former building official, Rosendo Prieto, was informed of the damage and “ignored his duties and [told residents] it was safe.” Prieto was most recently working with the city of Doral, but has taken a leave of absence following the Surfside collapse.

The suit was filed by Steve, Mark and Shoshana Rosenberg, Harold Rosenberg’s children.


Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/lo...ami-beach/article252479688.html#storylink=cpy

 

[GatorFL]

A fourth lawsuit has been filed stemming from the catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside.

Relatives of Harold Rosenberg, who lived in Unit 211 and remains missing after the collapse, filed the lawsuit Wednesday against the Champlain Towers South Condominium Association, Morabito Consultants and SD Architects. The lawsuit says the town of Surfside will eventually be named as a defendant.

The four parties “ignored obvious and shocking warning signs and indications that a catastrophe was imminent,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants knew for years leading up to this deadly collapse that the Champlain Towers South building posed an immediate and grave threat to the lives of the residents and occupants of the building, yet [they] failed to take the necessary steps to protect the building’s occupants.”


The suit also claims that Surfside’s former building official, Rosendo Prieto, was informed of the damage and “ignored his duties and [told residents] it was safe.” Prieto was most recently working with the city of Doral, but has taken a leave of absence following the Surfside collapse.

The suit was filed by Steve, Mark and Shoshana Rosenberg, Harold Rosenberg’s children.


Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/lo...ami-beach/article252479688.html#storylink=cpy

BBM: I knew this was coming. I bet it dovetails to Miami Dade County as well. This building should have been condemned.

 

[GatorFL]

BBM: I knew this was coming. I bet it dovetails to Miami Dade County as well. This building should have been condemned.

By the way, it is not unusual for condos to be evacuated for structural repairs. I've heard stories of buildings being evacuated for extended periods of time, a year or more.

 

[Hope32]

In my opinion, there were many fire hazards mentioned in the 40 Year Remediation Repair List that were severe enough to warrant an order to evacuate -- regardless of municipality.

These include:

• firewall missing above the exterior glass walls and doors below second floor exterior slabs
• circuit identification labels missing on several panels
• insufficient corridor illumination
• absence of fire alarms in both the garage and pool deck areas
• absence of smoke detectors in tenant storage rooms, meter rooms, and the first floor corridor
• blocked exit signs in corridors leading to stairwells
• rusted generator and day tank
• missing safety disconnects on A/C compressors in garage rooms
• improper fire penetration for meter from FPL vault to the main electrical room
• low voltage wiring attached to busway (insufficient wiring)
• rusted disconnect switch in generator room
• rusted wireway and damaged disconnect switches on roof
• fire pump base frame severely rusted (an added notation says this will affect the alignment of the pump shaft and result in bearing failure)
• rusted 6" sprinkler main by fire pump
• absence of backflow prevention
• storage areas completely rotted from water damage and complete replacement is required due to fire hazard

https://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/miamiletter0628.pdf

I agree some of those are definitely questionable to keep occupancy they also factor in the year it was built and there are time where building or things are grandfathered in.

For instance, in my profession you now need to have a Doctorate of Physical Therapy to practice, but that only started about 5-10 years ago and before that it was a Master's or Bachelor's of Physical Therapy, but none of those practicing clinician's had to go bad to school. Rather their license grandfathered them in. Same for my mom's teaching license she didn't have to do continuing education because she had it prior to the change.

 

[zecats]

I have been reading along but have not yet commented. The whole tragedy is so overwhelming.

Anyway, this was interesting enough to share. Diagrams actually give locations of apartments by floor and who lived where, who is missing, who is confirmed deceased, and even those who escaped or were not in residence. Eerily, it shows the part that did not collapse so very close by. Apologies if already shared.

Floor by Floor, the Missing People and Lost Lives Near Miami

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Sharing this article at a friend's request. It's a local Sarasota waterfront condo that shared a similar experience, but had a different outcome. Explains really well the responsibilities of all the parties involved in Florida when it comes to crumbling waterfront condos.

The Story Behind a Downtown Sarasota Condo's Near-Collapse

This is a very good article... shows all the excruciating work that has to be done, and how difficult it is....
This painful but successful story, and the painful disastrous Surfside story --- should give all condo owners the education of a lifetime..

 

[sds71]

Less than a month before the collapse of Champlain Towers South, the town of Surfside’s compliance division sent a notice to the condo’s association that listed a series of minor violations that included untrimmed hedges, a missing exit light and a malfunctioning gate, according to new documents released by the town of Surfside on Wednesday.


https://www.townofsurfsidefl.gov/do...mpliance-letters-issued.pdf?sfvrsn=bf2a1194_2

 

[sunflowerchick]

As more comes to light, I can't help but think it may not even have been just one specific thing that caused this, but rather the "perfect storm" of violation after violation all culminating in the collapse of this building and ultimate loss of life. This is tragic and could have been avoided.

 

[Lilibet]

I have been reading along but have not yet commented. The whole tragedy is so overwhelming.

Anyway, this was interesting enough to share. Diagrams actually give locations of apartments by floor and who lived where, who is missing, who is confirmed deceased, and even those who escaped or were not in residence. Eerily, it shows the part that did not collapse so very close by. Apologies if already shared.

Floor by Floor, the Missing People and Lost Lives Near Miami

Absolutely heartbreaking. Especially reading the profiles of those killed linked in this article.

 

[al66pine]

Surfside's Building Code?
Imo appears, Surfside was already a town in 1960, and its town commission* adopted this ordinance** in 1960, State of FL bldg code as Surfside's minimum bldg code imo.
So iiuc, when (designed, permitted & ?) constructed in 1981, this Champlain tower condo complex would have been required to comply w state bldg code & state rules then in effect and as later amended, and also to comply w town's regulations per sub (9)*.
^ imo. Other thoughts or interp's? TiA.

____________________________________
*" Sec. 11. - Powers of commission....
"(9) Regulate and restrict: (a) location, number of stories, height, size, cubic contents, construction, appearance and area of buildings and other structures..." yada. yada.
Municode Library bbm
** "Chapter 14 - BUILDINGS AND BUILDING REGULATIONS[1]
"Sec. 14-26. - Enforcement of code.
It shall be the duty of the town manager to enforce the provisions of this article.(Code 1960, § 6-3)
"Sec. 14-27. - Adoption of building code
The Florida Building Code, together with all rules adopted thereunder, as same may be amended from time to time, is adopted as the minimum building code for the town."
(Code 1960, § 6-1; Ord. No. 1435, § 2, 11-12-02)" bbm
^ Municode Library

 

[Dontknow?]

The firefighters in that garage scared me every time I saw the video of them. I was afraid the garage would collapse even more. Terribly sad they couldn't reach her.

 

[rainynights]

The firefighters in that garage scared me every time I saw the video of them. I was afraid the garage would collapse even more. Terribly sad they couldn't reach her.

From the video: Crews were involved with "an active conversation with the female trapped next to the bed about 10 to 11 hours after the collapse...She was aware her parents were also trapped next to her."

She was trapped near the garage. A fire broke out and forced the crews to step back... they later learned she passed away.

Heartbreaking. My heart goes out to all the brave first responders.

 

[Dontknow?]

Joel Franco

@OfficialJoelF
16s

#UPDATE:
@MayorDaniella
says two more bodies were pulled from the #Surfside rubble. Their ages: 4 and 10.

 

[indicolite22]

Video appears to show rubble in garage, water gushing just before Surfside condo collapse

A TikTok video posted Tuesday appears to show the north side of Champlain Towers South Condo just moments before the building collapsed. The video, taken from across 88th street, focuses on the entrance to the garage, where water appears to pour from the ceiling and huge chunks of concrete can be seen covering the floor.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252475248.html

The video of the garage entry was apparently taken at 1:18am. Here's an older article (June 24) with another resident who had a lucky escape:

A stroke of dumb luck might well have saved Eric Zion’s life. He lives in the Champlain Towers South building and he said he got back from a trip at about 10:30pm Wednesday night and, for some reason, the lights were shut off in his apartment. He doesn't know why his power was out but it pushed him to make a decision that he and his wife were going to rent a hotel room in the neighborhood just for the night. They planned to figure out the power situation in the morning.

“We drove out at like maybe 11:30ish, went to the hotel, took everything out, and then at approximately 12:30am, I came back to return my car to the parking lot. Then I went upstairs to get my scooter and I was probably in the apartment for 20, 30 minutes so I probably left like 12:50, close to 1:00,” Zion said.

“...I was literally just there when I put my car in, the whole garage collapsed. So my car is totaled. But like, you know, it could have been me.”

'I Felt The Entire Room Shake.' Partial Building Collapse In Surfside Leaves One Dead, Many Injured

So this guy drove into the garage around 12:30am and didn't notice anything? He also left the apartment just before the trouble started. At 1:18am the debris and the water leak were recorded on the video of the garage entrance. Also, is the power outage in his apartment earlier on (11:30) related to the collapse?

 

[JaxFlaGal]

Sorry I only noticed this: "From City of Miami Building Dept:"

I completely understand that mistake, GatorFL. I've lived in Florida since I was an infant (many, many years ago!) and still get confused when people reference Miami-Dade versus Dade County. Residents voted to change it from Dade to Miami-Dade in 1997, but I'm still not used to the "new" name. (Miami-Dade County, Florida - Wikipedia for the curious )

 

[sds71]

NIST Will Conduct Technical Investigation Into the Collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condominium
The investigation could take years, lead to recommendations for building code improvements.

https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2021/06/nist-will-conduct-technical-investigation-collapse-champlain-towers-south

 

[margarita25]

Live Presser Now:

—

 

[JaimeInLA]

Yes, it is very disturbing indeed. The viral video shows 4 balconies/inside areas lit up at the beginning of the video. Unfortunately for us who want to view... we don't have the prior 30-120 seconds of this viral video, which perhaps is from another angle that this building next door?. (Perhaps will hit MSM soon so we can discuss?) This video also shows 2 unit on the right with lights coming on...

We shall see later. Those who have loved ones in that middle unit, and the ones to the right... they know by now that the lights are from their loved ones units are easy to count the floors down, and from left to right.

if we want to search for this viral video ourselves, where do we go? Instagram? Twitter?

 

[Angela_Beckett]

"When you have already seen death, you have had the opportunity to rescue someone, when something serious like this happens, that instinct inside you awakes for the preservation of the human race."
The Mexican rescuers joining the search for survivors in Surfside