The search in Surfside enters day nine, but there is no hopeful news to report. Instead, concerns remain about the stability of the site. Work was paused for 15 hours Thursday after safety concerns but eventually resumed. The Sun-Sentinel reports:
The rest of the standing building will likely be taken down, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said, but the decision needs to be made methodically to evaluate all possible impacts to the pile of debris and to the continued search-and-rescue efforts.
With over three million pounds of concrete now removed from the collapse, our first responders continue their search and rescue mission — putting their own lives at risk in extremely difficult conditions.
To each and every one of them: thank you. pic.twitter.com/t7uNvH3F8j
— Daniella Levine Cava (@MayorDaniella) July 2, 2021
Meanwhile, more evidence has surfaced showing problems were evident at Champlain Towers South for years. USA Today reports on a report from the fall of 2020:
When workers from Concrete Protection and Restoration and Morabito Consultants arrived to investigate and remediate work at Champlain Towers South, they found such extensive concrete deterioration and corrosion of reinforcement that some of the repair work couldn’t be performed for fear it might affect the stability of nearby areas.
In a summary of work performed produced by Morabito Consultants on October 13, 2020, the company reported it had discovered several issues, including potentially deep deterioration of concrete near the pool area.
***Full restoration and repair work “could not be performed” because the pool “was to remain in service for the duration of the work” and because the necessary aggressive excavation of concrete at the pool “could affect the stability of the remaining adjacent concrete constructions.” *****
Another report raised red flags back in 2018.
A 2018 report documented issues within Champlain Towers South condo building: “The building envelope that seals the building from the outside environmental damages, such as salt air, were compromised” pic.twitter.com/jHN4sskxt8
— CBS News (@CBSNews) July 2, 2021
The Miami Herald spoke with Abi Aghayere, a Drexel University engineering researcher:
A review of the building plans, inspection reports and photos from the collapse shows a lack of necessary backstops.
“It doesn’t have structural integrity reinforcement,” Aghayere said. “Because there’s no structural integrity reinforcement if it falls, it just goes.”
The Herald also writes that “In general, experts agreed that the building, which was constructed in the early 1980s, was not designed with the same level of redundancy as modern-day buildings.”
For now, the death toll remains at 18 with 145 people still missing.
Watch more above from the local ABC affiliate in Miami.