At the very least 5 folks had been confirmed lifeless and greater than 150 folks remained unaccounted for almost three days after a condominium tower close to Miami got here crashing down whereas folks inside had been sleeping.
A fireplace had hampered search efforts Saturday on the web site of the collapsed condo constructing in Surfside, Florida. Groups had been utilizing infrared expertise, foam and water to battle the blaze, but it surely was very tough to isolate its supply and cease it, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava mentioned at a press convention.
The smoke was the largest barrier as searchers continued their around-the-clock effort to seek out any survivors. First responders imagine it’s nonetheless doable folks will likely be discovered alive. There are crevices within the particles, permitting for airflow, mentioned the mayor.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett instructed CBS Miami that he’d been given approval for voluntary evacuation of a close-by “sister constructing,” constructed by the identical developer across the similar time interval, referred to as Champlain Tower North in order that officers can do a complete forensic evaluation.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis mentioned on the press convention alongside Levine Cava, “I do not know that there is indications that there is any issues with that constructing, however simply given the similarities, given the identical age, they assume that that could be one thing.”
An engineering report from 2018 warned that the constructing that collapsed had main structural worries, Mark Strassman reported for “CBS This Morning: Saturday.” It’s unclear if any of the problems within the report — from Morabito Consultants — induced the collapse, and it did not warn of imminent hazard, though it mentioned repairs had been wanted.
Waterproofing failed underneath the pool deck and wasn’t correctly laid, so water did not drain, the report mentioned. “The failed waterproofing is inflicting main structural harm to the concrete structural slab under these areas. Failure to changed the waterproofing within the close to future will trigger the extent of the concrete deterioration to increase exponentially,” it mentioned.
It additionally mentioned there was “considerable cracking” in concrete columns, beams and partitions within the parking storage.
Lynne Sladky / AP
Contributing: The Related Press
