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

[dixiegirl1035]

 

[dixiegirl1035]

Father of MS son

 

[dixiegirl1035]

 

[indicolite22]

I wonder how many residents actually heard the deck collapse and how many thought much of it. A witness/resident in the lobby said it was a booming sound.

Next door hotel guests, who were outside, heard a loud crash which prompted them to go investigate and that's how they filmed the concrete rubble through the garage entrance. The article below states that the residents rushed to the balconies due to the same sound, but we don't see anyone on the balcony in the video.

Fallen debris and gushing water was seen in the Surfside condo garage moments before collapse - CNN

 

[dixiegirl1035]

 

[dixiegirl1035]

 

[helenff]

So awful that it happened at night. It seems like there was water in the garage for some minutes before, plus the noise and knocking. If only they'd been able to raise a warning. I doubt they could've got everyone out (if at home in the day), but there would have been a chance for more.

 

[indicolite22]

Another timeline from witnesses from apartment #111 (slightly different than previously posted):

shortly before 1 am (in the apt): loud “knocking” noises
around 1:14 am (in the apt): a noise that sounded like a wall crashing down
around 1:15 am (in the lobby): a very large boom (pool deck and surface-level parking collapse)
1:19 am: witness calls 911
around 1:20 am: dispatcher for Fire and Rescue calls for an engine to respond
1:24-1:25 am: building collapse (source EMS audio)

Video, images and interviews deepen questions about role of pool deck in condo collapse

The garage entrance video was made at 1:18am, so at least 6 (but up to 9) minutes have likely passed between the deck failure and the building collapse. (JMO)

 

[indicolite22]

Another account from the mother from apt #111 the lady in apt #410. Some details differ slightly from previous articles/interviews.

Account 1

“I was sitting in the office, going through emails and the like, and I started hearing noises.”

“I thought someone had decided to renovate their apartment in the middle of the night,” she said. “At first, I ignored it. But a few minutes later, I became upset about it and left the apartment.”

As she complained to a security guard, asking him to call the police, she saw the parking lot of the building collapse “like an abyss that has opened up beneath it.”

Fearing it was an earthquake, she returned to her condo and woke up her children, urging them to leave the building. They all escaped.

Account 2

Around the same time, Cassie Stratton, who lived in Unit 410, awoke to the sound of cracking, according to her sister, Ashley Dean.

Dean said Stratton called her husband, Michael, who was on a business trip to Washington. Stratton told him the pool was caving in and the ground was shaking.

She let out a scream, and the line went dead. Stratton is among the missing.

Dean said her sister complained about the condition of the parking garage and pool area.

The many red flags at the Florida condo building: A visual investigation of events leading up to disaster | USA TODAY

 

[PrivateInspector007]

This one really bothers me because they do not mention if anyone investigated to see if they were calling for help. It says they only could hear 'static' but maybe they were unable to speak. We all know there are many times people call for help and are unable to respond. So sad!

Family received calls from missing grandparents following Surfside condo collapse, report says | WFLA

 

[Skigh]

Water filmed pouring into basement of Miami condo minutes before its collapse as death toll hits 18 | Daily Mail Online

 

[indicolite22]

The lady from the apt #611 had a lucky escape. Not only did she decide to leave the building after seeing a large crack appear in a wall, she missed the nearest staircase to her apt and took the one next to the elevators (more familiar) which remained standing after the collapse. She was on the 4th floor on her way down when the collapse started.

https://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/sur-de-la-florida/article252471203.html

 

[BrownRice]

Father of MS son

Oh gosh. That is too much. His poor papa.

 

[bears10]

YESS!!! All of this should have, could have, and the keyboard building inspectors, need to make another thread… This was a major disaster and a huge tragedy for over 100 families, my heart , thoughts, and reading time are with them, feeling their pain, understanding and being empathetic to their loss…

bbm. This is a discussion board. So we are discussing the tragedy. This is like saying on a missing persons thread, no one should discuss the possibilities of what happened because it’s not empathetic.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

It's a real wake up call, sadly.

It's made me wonder in the cacophony of all the various parts that lead to this tragedy, was the Condo Association already behind the 8 ball, so to speak.
I'm looking for the breakdown percentage of full-time residents of CTS, seasonal residents, and portfolio/investment properties. Because, it may have been an additional impediment to taking the quick and necessary actions like Dolphin Towers took. Just speculation on my part, of course.

I am "waiting" for this information as well...
In the floor maps identifying the missing people, there are so many units with no identification (units color coded beige).
Were they all empty?
They even color coded the units where people were away (the pale green)

So my question is.... In "condo living 101", is this the norm in an ocean front building.... to have so many unoccupied??

 

[SouthAussie]

I am "waiting" for this information as well...
In the floor maps identifying the missing people, there are so many units with no identification (units color coded beige).
Were they all empty?
They even color coded the units where people were away (the pale green)

So my question is.... In "condo living 101", is this the norm in an ocean front building.... to have so many unoccupied??

I guess we can't be sure if these units all were empty, or if some families have requested privacy at this difficult time.

One would think that if they were all empty, there might be a colourcode for vacant unit.

 

[indicolite22]

I am "waiting" for this information as well...
In the floor maps identifying the missing people, there are so many units with no identification (units color coded beige).
Were they all empty?
They even color coded the units where people were away (the pale green)

So my question is.... In "condo living 101", is this the norm in an ocean front building.... to have so many unoccupied??

About half of the units in the collapsed parts (40) were unlabeled in the NYT graphics. IMO it was just not clear where some of the missing lived (some additional names connected to apartment floors have been in MSM, but without apartment numbers). At least some unlabeled units were occupied, for example #202, because there was light in that apt in the garage entrance video made minutes before the collapse.

ETA: Some of the missing info on the apt #s can be found in other MSM sources.

 

[SouthAussie]

About half of the units in the collapsed parts (40) were unlabeled in the NYT graphics. IMO it was just not clear where some of the missing lived (some additional names connected to apartment floors have been in MSM, but without apartment numbers). At least some unlabeled units were occupied, for example #202, because there was light in that apt in the garage entrance video made minutes before the collapse.

They say 145 are still missing. So that probably means about 86 (or so) unnamed and much loved people lived in those beige coloured (in the diagram) apartments.

(61 named as missing in the orange coloured units in the diagram .... with I think two more since being found.)

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


President Biden is traveling Thursday to visit Surfside, Fla., where a condominium collapsed one week ago — a disaster that has left at least 18 residents dead and 145 still missing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/07/01/florida-condo-building-collapse-live-updates/

 

[GatorFL]

This is a document from the town of Surfside regarding the repairs needed. Certainly doesn't sound like anything urgent: https://www.townofsurfsidefl.gov/do...ral-field-survey-report.pdf?sfvrsn=aa311194_2

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I guess we can't be sure if these units all were empty, or if some families have requested privacy at this difficult time.

One would think that if they were all empty, there might be a colourcode for vacant unit.

Right. But the effort put into all the diagrams and identification, I felt they should have, at least, made a reference to the units with no identification... you know like.... "no data available on units color coded in beige"....