South Florida Highrise Collapse

General Chit Chat
Message
Author
PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8246
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

South Florida Highrise Collapse

#1 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Jun 24, 2021 3:15 pm

28 min ago
51 people assumed to be living in collapsed building are not accounted for, commissioner says :-o
From CNN's Elise Hammond

Miami-Dade Commissioner Sally Heyman said, as of right now, 51 people who were assumed to have been living in the partially collapsed part of the building have not been accounted for.

Heyman told CNN those people have "not either called out or had people call in to reach them."

Emergency officials are asking people to call 305-614-1819 to report that they are safe or for family members to report their relatives missing.

The commissioner said it is not clear if all 51 people were in the building when it fell because of "vacations or anything else, so we're still waiting and unfortunately the hope is still there, but it is weaning."

Heyman said crews have completed searching and are now shifting to recovery efforts. She said fire rescue and first responders have gone entirely through the building that did not fall, and the part that was partially compromised.

"The rest of the search and rescue efforts has been done by man power on the outside, search on the barrier quarters, also with drones and with dogs. It has shifted now or started to shift to recovery," she said.
She said about 40 people have been evacuated, according to their records. Some of them were helped by other people, she said.

But, Heyman said crews are in "pause mode" right now because of a thunderstorm that has moved into the area.


21 min ago
Surveillance video purports to show moment Florida building collapsed
From CNN's Paul P. Murphy

New video, obtained by a local Fox Sports radio anchor, appears to show the moment that a condo building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed early Thursday morning.

In the video, obtained by Fox Sports 640 South Florida's talk show host Andy Slater, it purportedly shows the building collapsing first from the middle.

The front, and back of the building appears to remain standing. Nine seconds later, the back of the building begins to collapse.

WATCH:


https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/miami- ... o,WATCH%3A

Video of collapse is scary.
Imagine waking up in the middle of the night to that.
Just a bad dream, roll over and go back to sleep.

PP

fin
Capt
Capt
Posts: 947
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:33 pm
Location: Empire State/Magnolia State
Gender:

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#2 Post by fin » Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:09 pm

Like plane crashes, my biggest interest is the WHY something happened, as well as what when and where.

I find it somewhat interesting that there is no suggestion of ISIS or terrorists mentioned so far.

I wonder whether residents of adjoining buildings will be forced out while their premises are inspected by engineers.
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8246
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#3 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:39 pm

I heard that two adjacent buildings, a hotel and an apartment building, were evacuated.
I'm willing to bet on either corrosion in rebar in concrete supports or some kind of subsidence under supports will be found to be the culprit.

PP

fin
Capt
Capt
Posts: 947
Joined: Mon Aug 24, 2015 9:33 pm
Location: Empire State/Magnolia State
Gender:

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#4 Post by fin » Thu Jun 24, 2021 4:56 pm

Built in 1981, there was work being done on the roof. Coincidence? At least nobody is (yet) banging on the terror drum.
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8246
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Thu Jun 24, 2021 6:21 pm

Florida building codes require an inspection at 40 years.
That inspection was scheduled already. :-?
I hope that they didn't pay for it in advance. :ymdevil:

PP

User avatar
Alisoncc
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 4260
Joined: Sat Aug 22, 2015 7:20 am
Location: Arrakis
Gender:
Age: 80

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#6 Post by Alisoncc » Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:07 am

Report this morning that the building has been sinking a few mm's a year, and was considered unstable a year ago.
A researcher at Florida International University said the building was constructed on reclaimed wetlands and was determined to be unstable a year ago.

The building was sinking at a rate of about two millimetres a year in the 1990s, and the sinking could have slowed or accelerated in the time since, according to a 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/north-amer ... 5846p.html

Got lots of similar up on the Gold Coast, and around the harbour in Sydney. :D
Rev Mother Bene Gesserit.

Sent from my PDP11/05 running RSX-11D via an ASR33 (TTY)

EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#7 Post by EA01 » Fri Jun 25, 2021 3:47 am

Got lots of similar up on the Gold Coast
Yep, Paradise Tower springs to mind. Built in 1968 it was the second high rise on the Gold Coast, how those balconies remain amazes me to this day.

https://www.google.com/search?q=paradis ... BrS7TzggxM

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#8 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Fri Jun 25, 2021 4:37 am

Put em up too fast, without due diligence or illegally and this kind of thing happens. This one is going to go down (literally) in the annals of major engineering failures in the USA.

It might not be as bad or worse than this one but ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyatt_Reg ... y_collapse
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

Pontius Navigator
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 14669
Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2017 8:17 am
Location: Gravity be the clue
Gender:
Age: 80

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#9 Post by Pontius Navigator » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:43 am

Alison reminds me of an accommodation block at Goose Bay. About 7 stories and well worth a visit 😉 but suddenly closed and cordoned off as the ground was unstable and it was leaning.

At least on a military base there are no commercial interests insistent on ignoring the dangers.

Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17209
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#10 Post by Boac » Fri Jun 25, 2021 7:37 am

That 'whooshing' noise you can hear is lawyers rubbing their hands.

EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#11 Post by EA01 » Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:12 am

That 'who
oshing' noise you can hear is lawyers rubbing their hands.
Ain't that the truth!

EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#12 Post by EA01 » Fri Jun 25, 2021 8:13 am

Also, professional indemnity insurance just went through the roof for building certifiers

Pinky the pilot
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2510
Joined: Tue Aug 25, 2015 3:20 am
Location: Back home, looking for a bad bottle of Red
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#13 Post by Pinky the pilot » Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:33 am

That 'whooshing' noise you can hear is lawyers rubbing their hands.
I quite suspect that Mercedes and BMW dealers will be getting more than a few inquiries 'in due course.'
You only live twice. Once when you're born. Once when you've looked death in the face.

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8246
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#14 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:25 pm

Well, that didn't take long! :-o


Resident files class-action lawsuit after Florida condo collapse



https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/re ... e-n1272355


Resident files class-action lawsuit after Florida condo collapse
The purpose of the suit, filed in Miami-Dade County just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, is to "compensate the victims of this unfathomable loss," according to the filing.


A resident of Champlain Towers South, the Florida high-rise condo that partially collapsed, filed a class-action lawsuit less than 24 hours after nearly half the building was reduced to rubble.

The suit, filed by Manuel Drezner in Miami-Dade County just before 11:30 p.m. Thursday, said its purpose is to "compensate the victims of this unfathomable loss."


Part of the 12-story building in Surfside, near Miami Beach, collapsed about 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Of the building's 136 units, 55 in the northeast corridor were gone in a matter of seconds.

As of Friday morning, four people were dead and 11 had been hurt, officials said.

A staggering 159 people were unaccounted for, while 120 people from the building were accounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters Friday morning.

The suit said Champlain Towers South Condominium Association Inc. "failed to adequately secure the building, placing the lives and property of its occupants and visitors ... at risk resulting in the collapse of the building."

"At all relevant times, defendant was aware, or reasonably should have been aware that the plaintiff's and the class's lives and property were at risk due to the lack of precautions taken at Champlain Towers South," according to the suit.

Officials have not yet determined the cause of the collapse. The lawsuit said the defendants reserve the right to amend the filing as more information and potential victims become known.

An agreement attached to the suit between Champlain Towers South Condominium Association Inc. and condominium owners said "the association shall maintain, repair and replace at the association's own expense ... all portions of the units ... contributing to the support of the building, which portions should include but not limited to, the outside of the building and load bearing columns."

The suit said the agreement was clearly breached by Champlain Towers South Condominium Association Inc.

The suit also quotes Kenneth Direktor, an attorney for Becker, a law firm that has worked for the building since 1993, saying Thursday that “repair needs had been identified" at the building.

Direktor did not immediately respond Friday to requests for comment, but Donna Berger, another attorney with Becker Lawyers, told NBC News that it was "disappointing" for a lawsuit "to be the focus right now of any owner in Champlain Towers South, when almost 100 of their neighbors are still unaccounted for.”

About 70 percent of the building was occupied at the time of the collapse, Berger said.

“I feel as a culture we’ve become so accustomed from moving from one tragic event to another, and there’s often a rush to judgment," she said. "This was a community that was functioning well and doing the right things and just struck with a freak tragedy."

Berger added that Champlain Towers South Condominium board member Nancy Levin, who served as vice president, was among the group of people unaccounted for.

"How in the span of less than a day could an attorney file a lawsuit alleging anything? Every expert on the site doesn’t know what happened, yet some attorney has decided that he has figured this all out," Berger added. "Certainly, if there’s culpable parties, they should be held accountable, but first and foremost our focus is on the search and rescue efforts.”

She said engineers would look at whether construction of an high-rise next door "played any sort of role in destabilizing the building."

Berger said the building had recently hired an engineer to undergo a 40-year recertification process, as is required under Miami-Dade County building code. Champlain Towers South was built in 1981.


Any property in the county that was built four decades or longer ago is required to complete the inspection process within a few years of that anniversary to certify “each building or structure is structurally and electrically safe for the specified use for continued occupancy,” according to the county’s notice sent to property owners.

Champlain Towers South was undergoing a roof replacement to be in compliance with the report, Berger said.

Public records did not show many issues regarding the building beyond two lawsuits over alleged cracks in a unit’s exterior wall.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters that he often jogged by the building. He said he knew it had undergone some minor construction and roof work that included a recent crane, but he noted that many buildings undergo similar maintenance.

Champlain Towers South is across from a beach in the oceanfront community of about 6,000 people.

Photos showed people gawking Thursday from the beach at the pile of rubble below dozens of condos seemingly sliced in half and exposed to the open air.


PP

EA01
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 2980
Joined: Tue Jun 30, 2020 7:53 am
Location: OOL
Gender:
Age: 51

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#15 Post by EA01 » Sat Jun 26, 2021 12:02 pm

Here, I would have advised that a Structural engineers report be paid for, and any remedial work required, the engineers report essentially forming the 'Tender' document for rectifications.

It does this -

The Structural engineer report show due diligence by the committee
A professional (engineer) has identified what needs be done, not the advice of an owner who may have had a lifetime experience as a florist.
There is no record of I or any committee member saying something like 'Some duct tape will fix it for now'
And importantly, I could show at every step my advice was sound and sincere,....if the committee voted against the money required for a structural engineers report, well then it was minuted in the meeting records that I advised them to do so.

a 'CYA' operation.

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8246
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#16 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sat Jun 26, 2021 1:12 pm

The Smoking Gun?

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/miami- ... d6a197417c

Engineer raised concerns about structural damage at Surfside condominium in 2018 report
From CNN's Chuck Johnston

These photos published in the 2018 report shows concrete spalling on a balcony at Champlain Towers.
These photos published in the 2018 report shows concrete spalling on a balcony at Champlain Towers. From Morabito Consultants
A structural field survey report completed nearly three years before the collapse of the Champlain Towers south condominium complex in Surfside raised concerns about structural damage to the concrete slab below the pool deck and “cracking and spalling” located in the parking garage.

The report from October 2018 was included in a series of public records documents that were published overnight on the Surfside, Florida town website. The New York Times was the first media outlet to publish a story about the field survey report.

Page seven of the report, the goal of which was to "understand and document the extent of structural issues that require(d) repair and/or remediation in the immediate and near future," detailed signs of “distress/fatigue” in the parking garage:

“Abundant cracking and spalling of various degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls. Several sizeable spalls were noted in both the topside of the entrance drive ramp and underside of the pool/ entrance drive/ planter slabs, which included instances with exposed, deteriorating rebar. Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion.”

Spalling is a term used to describe areas of concrete that have cracked or crumbled.

The 2018 report also noted that "many of the previous garage concrete repairs" were "failing."

The report also said the waterproofing below the pool deck was failing and causing "major structural damage."

“…the waterproofing below the pool deck and Entrance Drive as well as all of the planter waterproofing is beyond its useful life and therefore must all be completely removed and replaced. The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” the report read.
It further noted that "the replacement of the existing deck waterproofing will be extremely expensive...be disruptive and create a major disturbance to the occupants of this condominium building."

The report, which didn't give any indication that the structure was at risk of collapse, was completed by Frank Morabito with Morabito Consultants. CNN reached out to Morabito Consultants on Friday who offered no comment.

An attorney for the building's condominium association, Kenneth Direktor, warned against early speculation. The building, he told CNN on Friday, had been subject to a series of inspections "over the last several months" as part of its milestone 40-year safety certification process.

"Nothing like this was foreseeable," Direktor said. "At least it wasn't seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective."

CNN reached out to Kenneth Direktor on Saturday for comment.

PP

Pontius Navigator
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 14669
Joined: Fri Jul 07, 2017 8:17 am
Location: Gravity be the clue
Gender:
Age: 80

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#17 Post by Pontius Navigator » Sat Jun 26, 2021 5:29 pm

Looking at the location right in the edge of the Atlantic, were the foundations at fault?

User avatar
llondel
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5913
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:17 am
Location: San Jose

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#18 Post by llondel » Sat Jun 26, 2021 6:21 pm

From that CNN report (also picked up by the BBC), it seems that they were told of problems three years ago and decided not to do anything about it. The inspector was probably correct that it wasn't in danger of imminent collapse because it took another three years, during which time they could have made a serious attempt to fix it.

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8246
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#19 Post by PHXPhlyer » Sat Jun 26, 2021 9:36 pm

Can't say that they weren't warned. [-X
Here is the report on the structural deficiencies of the building.
Seems to be a combination of poor design, poor construction techniques, and poor maintenance and repair work. :-o #-o

https://www.townofsurfsidefl.gov/docs/d ... 882a1194_2

PP

Karearea
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 4746
Joined: Thu Sep 10, 2015 5:47 am
Location: The South Island, New Zealand

Re: South Florida Highrise Collapse

#20 Post by Karearea » Mon Jul 26, 2021 10:21 pm

This video takes a deeper look at the collapse of Champlain Towers South condominium building in Miami. The building is modelled from the 1979 Structural and Architectural drawings.
With the video, eyewitness and photo evidence we have so far, I have animated and simulated what happened here as accurately as the clues will inform. I have offered possible explanations for this shocking collapse. ...
Video runs 8:08


Post Reply