By the looks of the collapse few will be able to survive, they pulled one young boy out, but it's pancaked on the ground.



Surfside building collapse updates: At least 1 dead as search and rescue continues
A massive search and rescue operation is underway in a town near Miami Beach.

ByMorgan Winsor andJon Haworth
June 24, 2021, 11:17 AM

At least one person was killed and several others were injured after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in southern Florida's Miami-Dade County early Thursday morning, authorities said.

The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue received a call at around 1:30 a.m. local time about a partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. A massive search and rescue operation was launched before dawn, as crews carefully combed through the wreckage and remaining structure for survivors. So far, crews have rescued 35 occupants who were trapped inside the building and two others who were located beneath the rubble, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah.

"We are shoring up the structure on the inside as we continue to tunnel in to locate additional survivors," Jadallah said during a press conference in Surfside on Thursday morning.

Footage from the scene showed firefighters pulling a boy from the rubble alive and rescuing other people from still-standing balconies.

Jadallah told reporters that at least 45 people, including the 35 occupants who were rescued, were assessed and treated on site. Two of them were transported to local hospitals, and one has since died.

Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, about 8 miles northwest of Surfside, has received three patients from the scene so far. Two have critical injuries while the third is in fair condition, a hospital spokesperson told ABC News.

The oceanfront condominium has 136 units, and approximately 55 of them collapsed on the northeast corridor, according to Jadallah. The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has sent more than 80 units to the scene and is leading the search and rescue efforts, which Jadallah said "are still ongoing." It was unclear how many residents were unaccounted for.

Witnesses told Miami ABC affiliate WPLG that more people are still trapped inside the building.

Multiple police and fire departments from across Miami-Dade County have been deployed to the scene to assist.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters that the condominium was built in the 1980s and was believed to be substantially full at the time of the collapse. The building was undergoing roof work, he said.

Some 15 families walked out of the building alive on their own and were put up in a local hotel, according to Burkett. Search dogs did an initial pass around the wreckage when it was still dark, but there were no signs of survivors at that time, the mayor said.

That photo is amazing. You can literally count the floors on the ground at the bottom of the photo likes rings on a tree trunk.

Do those cars on the ground floor of the garage to the left look like they are facing downhill? As if there was some type of sink hole or would the buildings fall create a hole?

Can any SF structural engineers weigh in here? How could this building simply crumble like it was a controlled explosive demolition?

FOX News is reporting that 51 people are still unaccounted for. A tragedy for sure.

Jim

I can't find a before photo. It looks like collapsed wing of building was longer than the wing on the other side. It is hard to imagine anyone in that could survive.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
I can't find a before photo. It looks like collapsed wing of building was longer than the wing on the other side. It is hard to imagine anyone in that could survive.

FOX has a security cam video showing the collapse as it happened. 2 whole wings collapsed.

Jim

quote:

I can't find a before photo.

It's on Google Maps.

At first I thought perhaps part of the building fell over and down, but based on the before image it appears as if it went mostly straight down.

Very tragic! Wow.

I'm sure the building is evacuated and condemned now. I would be wary that the appendage on the left hand side is probably subject to the same failure as the right hand side.

Sinkhole was reported to be the early working theory.

Also, last week the US Navy did a huge explosion as part of a new carrier trials that caused a 3.9 earthquake in Miami. May or may not have anything to do with it, although it would be plausible that it may have weakened the structure.

Video of the collapse, it was a very large section that went down at the link.

Link

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Video of the collapse, it was a very large section that went down at the link.

Link

And of course it had to happen when a majority of the residents would likely have been home. What a tragedy.

Wow. You can see the part of the structure to which the section that collapsed was attached literally swaying as it happens. It's a miracle more of it didn't come down.

What a horrible tragedy

That video is horrific and 1:30 AM is an awful time for a residential building to pancake.

What a disaster. This should not happen in America.

In the early 80's when that condo was built they were in a building frenzy, and building code enforcement was spotty at best. I am interested to see what structural issues will be identified and how many other buildings are affected.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
I can't find a before photo. It looks like collapsed wing of building was longer than the wing on the other side. It is hard to imagine anyone in that could survive.

Google maps of before

The parking lot under the building looks sunk to me, which would indicate a sinkhole.

Sinkholes are very common in Florida. I would not be surprised if that were the cause.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by BamaJeepster:
Also, last week the US Navy did a huge explosion as part of a new carrier trials that caused a 3.9 earthquake in Miami. May or may not have anything to do with it, although it would be plausible that it may have weakened the structure.

That test was 100+ miles off-shore from Daytona, FL. It was a three blast test so, haven't seen anything about the follow-up detonations.
Highly unlikely the test had any effect on this building; its possible given soil quality around S.Florida so, can't rule it out completely. The Richter scale readings of the test while interesting, doesn't take into account that the test was on the surface of the earth and not within the earth's crust.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
Google maps of before

The collapse was a very large section of the building at least 50%, Reports are that 99 people are still unaccounted for at this time.

If you bring up the link above, there is another building that appears to be the same design 4 buildings to the north.

Awful, prayer goes out to the people and families who suffered loss from this tragedy. Terrible.

I saw an interview with a city official who said the building was undergoing its 40 year recertification. Some sort of code down there with high rises. Allegedly there was some construction work going on on the roof but I can’t see how that would have contributed to the structural failure of the building.