Condo collapse live updates: As search continues, a fifth body has been found
6/28/2021: Click here for the newest updates on Surfside building collapse.
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Rescue crews are continuing to search through the rubble for survivors after a 12-story oceanfront condo tower partially collapsed in Surfside, just north of Miami Beach. The portion of Champlain Towers South that crumbled faces the ocean.
People who have loved ones at the condo, unaccounted for or safe, should call 305-614-1819 to notify officials. Anyone who lives at the Champlain Towers and is safe is asked to complete a Wellness Check form to help the Miami-Dade County keep track of tenants.
Here’s what we know so far:
Death toll up to 5 as search for survivors goes on. Miami-Dade orders audit of high rises
8:30 p.m.: A fifth body was pulled from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside on Saturday afternoon and other human remains located, as the search and rescue operation entered its third day, dimming hopes that anyone would be found alive in the wreckage.
By late afternoon, voluntary evacuations were also underway at two other buildings, Champlain Towers North and East — the North of the same age and similar design to the South Condo, the crumbled building, which had been flagged as having “major structural damage at least three years ago.
Search and rescue crews swept the mammoth pile of rubble with canines and sonar using a grid system to identify possible survivors. Most of the day, they faced rain and a stubborn fire smoldering below the collapsed structure. Meanwhile, elected leaders sought to reassure residents of other high-rise buildings that their structures are safe.
Family members have been asked to provide DNA to help identify the remains. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said 130 people have been accounted for and 156 were still missing.
Family of five spread their love from Miami to Puerto Rico. They are all missing
8 p.m.: The Kleimans, a tight-knit Puerto Rican-Cuban family, were back together.
Jay Kleiman had flown into Miami from his home in Puerto Rico to attend the funeral of a friend. He stayed with his mother, Nancy, in the Champlain Towers in Surfside. His brother Frankie and his newlywed wife, Ana, along with her son Luis, lived on the same floor.
Deborah Berezdivin, a student at George Washington University in Washington, related to the Kleimans, was also in town with her boyfriend for the same funeral and staying in the building.
Just before 2 a.m. on Thursday, their condo tower came crashing down, leaving a mass of rubble, ruin and splintered shards where the tower previously stood. Seventy-two hours later, all five of the Kleimans who were in units 702 and 712 are still missing, among the 156 people missing in the Surfside condo collapse. Berezdivin has not been found either, nor her boyfriend, Ilan Naibryf, a student at the University of Chicago.
After Surfside condo collapse, Miami-Dade says more scrutiny coming to older buildings
7:10 p.m.: After the Surfside condominium collapse caused doubts about high-rise living in South Florida, local governments are promising closer looks at the safety of older buildings.
In Sunny Isles Beach, home to a canyon of beachfront high rises about five miles from the site of the Champlain Towers rescue site, the city plans to dispatch inspectors for an unprecedented review of aging structures.
Larisa Svechin, the vice mayor in Sunny Isles, said inspectors will review both the inspection paperwork and external structures of buildings in the range of 40 years old or older — a milestone that kicks in Miami-Dade’s requirement for new safety reports and structural analyses.
Read the full story here.
From cracked slabs to offshore blast: What probe into Surfside condo collapse might look at
6:30 p.m.: A catastrophic structural failure can take place in a flash. Determining what went wrong and why is a slow and agonizing process.
Experts interviewed by the Miami Herald said the investigation of the Champlain Towers South, likely to be undertaken by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, will have many possible causes to explore, including:
▪ A failure in the condo tower’s foundation;
▪ Steel corrosion in the concrete structure;
▪ An explosion;
▪ Construction damage;
▪ Improper design or construction.
Agency that studied fall of Twin Towers in line to probe collapse of condo near Miami Beach
6 p.m.: A team of scientists and engineers from an obscure federal agency that investigated the fall of the Twin Towers after 9/11 arrived Friday at the site of the partially collapsed residential tower in Surfside. Their goal: to decide whether to launch a full investigation into the catastrophe, and then to begin the painstaking process of determining what went wrong.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a little-known sub-agency of the Department of Commerce, investigates disasters that result in — or had the potential to result in — “substantial loss of life,” according to spokeswoman Jennifer Huergo. It does so with an eye toward recommending changes to building codes, standards and practices that will ensure that similar disasters never happen again.
Thursday’s tragedy at the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside — which left at least four people dead and over 150 unaccounted for as of Saturday — would appear to land directly in the agency’s wheelhouse. A federal law passed in the aftermath of 9/11, known as the National Construction Safety Team Act, gave NIST the authority to investigate major building failures.
Churches, schools hold prayer services for missing families in Surfside building collapse
4:05 p.m.: In the wake of the Surfside building collapse, schools and religious institutions in South Florida are organizing prayer services for those impacted.
“Our South Florida community is reeling from the Champlain Towers South Condo tragedy in Surfside,” aid Belen Jesuit Preparatory Schools in an emailed message to its community Friday. “We continue to pray for all those affected and for the rescue teams who have been working tirelessly to find survivors.”
Belen Jesuit will be praying the rosary Monday night for the families affected by the partial building collapse in Surfside, including several of their own.
Rescue crews are continuing to search through the rubble Saturday for survivors. Officials have confirmed five deaths. There are 156 people missing and 130 people accounted for.
Miami-Dade police to enter ‘Alpha/Bravo’ mode
4:00 p.m: Miami-Dade police officers will be pivoting to 12-hour shifts Saturday night and will no longer have any days off until further notice as crews continue to respond to the partial building collapse in Surfside.
Miami-Dade police announced the change just before 3 p.m. and said its “Alpha/Bravo activation” will begin at 7 p.m.
Debris at Surfside condo could have health consequences
3:25 p.m.: Although the public isn’t allowed to get within blocks of the scene on Collins Avenue, victims who may be trapped underneath the ruins and the teams searching for them could be inhaling dangerous levels of particles in the air.
“Our rescue teams and firefighters are the heroes that risk their own lives, time and time again to help others,” said University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Professor Dr. Shirin Shafazand. “There is no doubt that they are being exposed to pollutants and particulate matter that can lead to burns, short-term and long-term lung injury. Their use of appropriate protective gear is crucial.”
The dust is particulate matter and debris from the collapsed building, a mixture of organic and inorganic matter, but the actual content depends on multiple variables — what material the building was made of, whether there were fires on the site after the collapse, and impact of wind and humidity, Shafazand said.
Photos, candles and flowers pop up on memorial wall for 159 missing in condo collapse
1:25 p.m.: People were seen paying their respect Saturday in front of a recently erected memorial, with photos, candles and flowers, adorning a fence along a tennis court on Harding Avenue, a couple of blocks south of the partially collapsed condo tower in Surfside.
Family members of those missing were also seen at the memorial Friday night.
‘Is my building safe?’ Experts say whether you should worry about another collapse
1:10 p.m.: As the grim search for the bodies of victims at the collapsed Champlain Towers South continues, some apartment and condo dwellers in Miami are asking themselves: Could my building be next?
Florida’s Building Code is among the strictest in the nation, due to the state’s vulnerability to hurricanes. Experts say it is practically impossible for condo towers built over the last decade to suddenly collapse, because building materials and technology have greatly improved since 1981, when the Champlain was completed.
But the majority of residential towers in Miami-Dade — 70.2% of the county’s total 1,016,653 single-family homes, condos and apartment buildings — were built before 1990, two years before Hurricane Andrew led to the hardening of South Florida’s building code.
On Friday, the city of Miami’s building department announced it will request citywide inspections of all buildings six stories or taller that are 40 years or older.
Multiple experts say the current inspection process isn’t deep enough, because it doesn’t account for the effects of sea level rise, floods and king tides on the porous limestone over the decades since older buildings were built.
Miami-Dade mayor calls for audit of older buildings
11:55 a.m.: Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava has ordered an immediate audit of all buildings in the county that are older than 40 years and taller than five-stories-high, as well as those built by the same developer that constructed the Champlain Towers.
The partially collapsed building, Champlain Towers South, was finished in 1981 and was preparing for its 40-year recertification.
“We want to make sure that every building has completed their recertification process,” she said, referring to the county’s requirement that all buildings be inspected for structural integrity at the 40-year mark. “We want to move swiftly to remediate any issues that may have been identified that process.”
Levine Cava called on cities within the county to help with an “aggressive review” of all high rises.
Dogs at the Surfside condo collapse have jobs. Here’s what they do
11:30 a.m.: Some of the heroes of the Surfside condo collapse aren’t human.
They’re K-9s, working dogs in law enforcement. After Thursday’s tragedy, the dogs are doing important jobs: They find people. Alive or dead.
The animals are divided into two groups. “Life-find” K-9s work in a rescue, looking for survivors. And human-remains or cadaver K-9s work in a recovery. They’re known as HRDs and look for bodies.
‘Deep’ fire has complicated search efforts, Miami-Dade Mayor says
10:48 a.m.: A “deep” fire has been “hampering our search efforts” at the partial building collapse in Surfside, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Saturday during a news conference.
The mayor said crews have not been able to locate the source of the fire yet, which has been going on for a while.
She said fire rescue crews have been “working around the clock” under the rubble to stop it, using infrared red technology, foam, water and other tactics to contain the fire and minimize the smoke, which has spread throughout the pile.
“The smoke itself is the biggest barrier right now to proceeding in those areas so we’ve created a trench using heavy equipment to try and isolate the fire and continue searching for victims in the part of the pile that we can access,” Levine Cava said. “No further victims have been found.”
Levine Cava said the search and rescue mission for survivors will continue.
The death roll remains at four. There are also 127 people accounted for and 159 people missing.
- Michelle Marchante
Belen grad was visiting his parents. They’re all missing
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10:35 a.m.: To his Belen Jesuit friends, Juan Mora Jr. was more than a classmate, but a brother.
Mora, a Loyola University graduate who lives in Chicago, was visiting his parents Juan Mora Sr. and Ana Mora at their home in the Champlain Towers South Condo when the building came crashing down early Thursday morning.
All three Moras are still missing.
Official death toll remains at 4 as rescuers continue search for survivors
10:28 a.m.:More than 48 hours after the partial collapse of a condominium tower in Surfside resulted in four deaths and more than 150 persons unaccounted for, search and rescue crews carried on the dire but delicate work of picking over and tunneling through tons of crumbled concrete and twisted steel in search of survivors Saturday morning.
The official death count has not risen above the four people confirmed dead after the 12-story wing of Champlain Towers South came crashing down before dawn on Thursday.
As Saturday dawned, a misty rain fell on the smoky disaster site of the partially collapsed building that housed more than 50 homes. County officials said 127 people who lived or worked in the building have been accounted for, but 159 have been reported as missing.
- David J. Neal
Search enters day 3, no new updates on the missing, Miami-Dade Mayor says
8:30 a.m. Saturday’s first light brought a misty rain onto the smoky search and rescue efforts under the collapsed side of Surfside’s Champlain Tower South.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said rescue workers haven’t found any more survivors from Thursday’s early hours tragedy.
The mayor on Friday said the number of people missing increased to 159 — dramatically higher than the 99 reported earlier. The official death toll rose to four, as three more people were found in the rubble. She said 120 people were now accounted for.
- David J. Neal
Inspectors raised concerns about a ‘major error’ in Champlain Tower design, records show
8:30 a.m.: In a 2018 report about the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, an engineer flagged a “major error” dating back to the building’s origin where lack of proper drainage on the pool deck had caused “major structural damage,” according to records released late Friday night by town officials in the wake of the tower’s disastrous collapse on Thursday.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the issue was repaired or whether it could have ultimately contributed to the building’s partial collapse, which resulted in at least four deaths with over 150 people still unaccounted for.
The concern was laid out in an October 2018, “Structural Field Survey Report,” produced for the condo association by engineer Frank Morabito of Morabito Consultants. Morabito wrote that the “main issue” at Champlain Towers was that the pool deck and outdoor planters “laid on a flat structure” preventing water from draining. The lack of waterproofing was “a systemic issue” that traced back to a flaw “in the development of the original contract documents” 40 years ago, the report said.
Miami Herald creates searchable database of people reported missing in collapse
8:30 a.m.: There are still 159 people missing after the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condo.
The Miami Herald has created a searchable database which supplies names, pictures and known information about those missing. You can find the database here.
Miami-Dade County, local organizations work to house those displaced by condo collapse
8:30 a.m.: Many families have been left homeless and in need of assistance in the wake of the partial condo collapse.
The American Red Cross provided emergency hotel lodging Thursday night for residents and will continue to for the next several days. On Friday, Red Cross-trained caseworkers also began meeting with families to help them plan next steps and provide financial assistance.
Miami-Dade County spokeswoman Rachel Johnson said everyone who told officials they were homeless due to the collapse were placed in hotels. The group included those who lived at Champlain Towers South Condo or those evacuated from nearby buildings.
Other organizations have also been offering families aid.
This story was originally published June 26, 2021 at 8:29 AM.
