The tragic mission is still called “search and rescue” as more heavy equipment is brought in on the fourth day of rescue efforts. In the past day four more bodies “and additional human remains” have been recovered from the ruble of the collapsed 12 story condo building in Surfside Florida.
Hopes are diminishing for the 156 people still missing. Specific prayers this Sunday for the families of those lost and for the safety of the rescue workers who are in very perilous surroundings.
Miami Dade – Rescuers have recovered another four bodies in the wreckage of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse, bringing the total to nine dead and 156 still missing since the Surfside building collapsed early Thursday.
The latest victims were discovered along with “additional human remains” in a 135-foot long trench dug into the rubble to add rescue and recover teams — the newest tactic in the round-the-clock excavation of an unstable, sometimes shifting mountain of debris.
“We are making every effort to identify those others that have been recovered,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a Sunday morning press conference. (read more)
This is the America we know and love.
I think it is awesome, so please don’t take my statement wrong.
Sadly this is what it takes to bring out the America we all know and love.
Remember 911.
Since November, we have been turned upside down and inside out. But at least America does still have a heart.
As I look at the pulverized pile, and compare it to other disasters…my heart aches, knowing what I know about human physiology…an awful lot of time has gone by, but am still praying…
Definitely not Portland.
God bless all involved in the sadness, grief and rescue and recovery and these wonderful human beings looking after the rescuers. It brings tears of gratitude to my eyes.
Israel sending IDF team to assist with search and rescue efforts. God bless the state of Israel.
https://gellerreport.com/2021/06/israel-sending-idf-team-to-florida-to-assist-with-tower-collapse-rescue-efforts.html/
Why is the IDF in South America causing as much trouble as they can to push MORE Illegals into America? Their ally is Communist China NOT the United States
from the Tribe of my father before me, Nephtali
Unfortunately, Israel is infiltrated just like all the other countries with central banks or targets of central banks for wealth.
Here comes the commie media peddling lies as truth, as lemmings lap it all up.
https://therightscoop.com/the-not-hilarious-version-of-desantis-derangement-snares-wapo-pulitzer-winner-hannah-dreier-and-blue-check-friends/
By Democommunist logic, a naked Andrew Gillum, lying on the floor in a drugged stupor, would coordinate the perfect response. Of course, any or no response by a Democommunist would be declared “perfect” by the propagandists.
Andrew Gillum would have collected his bite from 40 yr “re-certification”, and the coverup.
I’m waiting for Rebekah Jones (or someone like her) to claim she warned DeSantis about this building months ago and that he threatened her to keep quiet.
Proof positive. The inmates of the far-left Journalist Asylum are exhibiting their fear flinching and terror of Gov. DeSantis. His standing and appeal to normal people is frightening to the Marxist plotters.
I can’t help seeing this as symbolic of what is about to happen to America. The foundation of our Nation has been eroded for years by Marxists chipping away methodically and strategically. They have undermined every institution and corrupted everything from within. It is only a matter of time until the entire edifice comes crashing down on all of us.
The warnings have been there for years, but OUR leaders have avoided needed confrontation and have been willing to go along to get along. That is now going to tragically catch up with us all. President Trump was our last chance, but they undermined him, and through a fraudulent election usurped power. They are now forcing a Marxist agenda on us and made it criminal to be a patriotic American.
Just look at what is going on. Who is stepping up to stop it? NO ONE!
It’s only a matter of time that America looks like the picture of that building.
A safe, accurate and secure vote is the foundation of this country. The democrats have been eroding this for years. They are liars and cheaters and are undermining our country’s future.
It is imperative that the truth of the 2020 election is told. Audits are in accordance with state’s rights. They should be conducted in all states, particularly where computers are used to count ballots. Cheating has been going on for years. We only noticed it last year because it was so blatant and wide spread.
Election integrity must be restored or the country is lost.
It started with Bob Dornan’s House seat (CA) in 1990s. The GOP was glad to be rid of him so didn’t fight the results (sound familuar?Then Woody Jenkins also late 90s (LA) Senate seat. He contested but GOP again refused to contest. Al Franken’s “victory” likewise was questionable (Senate MN) and again GOP accepted results. (No self respecting Democrat or party would not put up a fuss over these results). In 2004, Christine Gregoire “defeated” Rossi for the governorship in WA, but it was close and tgey kept counting until Gregoire was ahead, then the courts stopped it. So you have starting small…a House seat…then Senate seats, a governorship. All with the same modus operandi…GOP goes along. They are not called “the stupid party” for nothing. So why not go for the presidency? And true to form the GOP rolled over on its back.
It isn’t the Democrats’ vault that the do what they can get away with. The GOP hasn’t been an effective party since GHW Bush became president.
.
There was a judge who had the authority to rule that an (R) could not contest their election year after election year.
That judge died in the last 5 years, or so . . .
Prayers for all involved !
Yes … And here is a lawsuit pertaining to it.
All I can find at present.
It used to be on a blog I frequented, but can no longer access, or is gone.
The lawsuit …
https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legal-work/11-05-2016_Order.pdf
… This matter arises from the Republican National Committee’s (“RNC”) request for termination of the 1982 consent decree (the “Consent Decree” or “Decree”) between the RNC and the Democratic National Committee (“DNC”); including the Consent Decree as modified, see Democratic Nat. Comm. v. Republican Nat. Comm., 671 F. Supp. 2d 575, 622 (D.N.J. 2009) (modifying the Consent Decree and setting an expiration date of December 1, 2017 unless …
https://electionlawblog.org/wp-content/uploads/consent-order.pdf
1982 case in NJ against the GOP for some election irregularities…a “consent decree” was issued forbidding the GOP to talk about election fraud and for some reason, it was in place until 2018 and applied nationally
…for some reason…
…such as to give the spineless quislings an excuse to do nothing?
“It isn’t the Democrats’ fault”.
Agree 100%. I know what to expect from Ds, it’s the duplicity and self-imposed fecklessness of Rs that is infuriating.
I wish Robert Dornan was POTUS.
The Democrats stole the Connecticut governor’s race in 2012 or so. The Republican won and a week later the Democrats were still finding voters. The vote count doesn’t end until the Democrat wins!
Our “leaders” who put themselves in a position to stop it – think Mitch McConnell – are actually on the payroll of the demolitionists.
I have a fire burning inside me and I am aware of many others who also have a fire. Coordination is lacking, but that will be overcome thru overwhelming numbers, when the time is right. Look elsewhere for information. You sound as thou your spirit is gone. Recharge ” And We Know ” is a place to start.
I also have a burning inside me and do not know what I can do.
But I also know for every action of the evil ones there is an opposite reaction. The roar is building, can you hear the distant rumble .
Yes we will overcome!
Excellent advice, Kenneth.
Yes, this is what happens when someone values politics or dollars more than being responsible. As a product design engineer (retired now) I always felt it a deep responsibility to produce products that honestly met the stated requirements but above all were safe for the customer. I just read the engineering “Structural Field Survey Report” from 2018 on that building. The engineering analysis gave strong indication of serious problems with the building nearly three years ago. This is a problem with someone not wanting to spend the money to investigate further or not wanting to correct an obvious serious problem. Was there an original design flaw or were there geologic issues that developed after the construction? Whatever the analysis of that the real flaw was someone decided to ignore the problem as identified by competent engineering judgment. Welcome to the new socialist utopia where honesty and integrity have no meaning only political or avoiding accountability matter. Have you ever seen the collapsed and unsound buildings in China? Wellcome to the new USSA.
https://www.townofsurfsidefl.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/town-clerk-documents/champlain-towers-south-public-records/8777-collins-ave—structural-field-survey-report.pdf?sfvrsn=882a1194_2
The entire plan set is available online. It shows extensive structural modifications (not just repairs) were needed, especially at the floor plate-column connections, and especially down at the garage level. The engineering report and all the warnings pointed out spalling of concrete down at the lower levels, uneven settlement, corroding rebar, etc. They knew what was needed, and just didn’t want to pay for it. It would have cost millions$. The HOA just didn’t want to do it. If you can read structural plans, take a look; the amount of rework was pretty amazing
It is virtually impossible to assess the owners $9M for repairs to that particular building. That said, the Condo Board should have informed the owners of the situation and it sure seems they didn’t.
As a former many-year condo board member, I can tell you that most condo boards in FL are corrupt, and even worse, incompetent. Nobody wants to see it as a JOB, it’s just something that they do in their spare time.
And the owners are at fault. Nobody pays any attention, or cares. I have rooted out fraud in my association repeatedly, but nobody cares.
The board is indemnified as a volunteer board, the incompetent management company does some things, and the association will have an attorney. Plenty of blame to go around.
I’ve served on condo boards over the years and too many of the board members are more concerned with being popular and liked, being the “dog police” or the “noise police” or the pool police than they are with the structural integrity of the buildings or keeping up with needed maintenance. They are loathe to raise dues, and even more resistant to special assessments.
My career was in the corporate world so I saw the condo board as a business. We were responsible for the buildings (exterior), the grounds and the amenities. My board wrote a strategic plan that went out five years. We hired structural engineers and included their recommendations in our plans. We knew buildings would need roofing and painting. New shrubbery and flowers took a back seat. We presented the comprehensive plan to the homeowners along with the need for a hefty special assessment and a dues increase. We had some homeowners whine and complain, but everyone paid, and they all understood WHY we needed the money.
Ultimate blame rests with whichever level of local government allowed the building to continue to be occupied after the report was filed. In this case I’m guessing the city.
I know they can do this if the WANT to. Non-profit I belonged to a long way back got a sweet deal on a building once because the previous owner didn’t file for work permits to fix the building. Work was actually above code, just not permitted so they denied him a use permit.
China-standards.
OTOH … The IBC (International Building Code), the model code adopted by most locales, changes every 3-years. 40/3 = 13+ That’s 13 building code upgrades since this building was constructed.
Every updated building code gets MORE restrictive … some years MORE than others. Why? Because we learn from building failures. For instance the wind loading and resistance of FL buildings has SIGNIFICANTLY improved over the past 40 years. I expect we will find a significant number of structural code upgrades in the past 40 years.
For example, I expect we will learn that something as seemingly innocuous as steel ‘cover’ has increased in coastal regions. So each rebar May now require 3” min. concrete cover instead of 2”. I’m not a FL SE so I don’t know that for a fact, but it is just an example of the small but important incremental changes in our building codes.
Looks dreadfully like the Oklahoma City bombing facade.
How is it most people wait years for a trial, then appeals ensue, but Mc Vay was here & gone in a nanosecond. Not saying anything about culpability, just the speed.
Of course, suicide is faster.
Interesting allusion to 9/11 . . .
The pictures of the edifice are interesting and beg for a lot of answers. Half the building is standing…the other half…? I would love to hear what the real structural engineers have to say. There have been articles elsewhere referencing poor construction and or remediation of structural problems. The finger pointing will soon begin. The arbitrators are preparing their cases, no doubt.
I am so hoping a survivor or few/many can be found…
There will be jail sentences, to be sure.
Not if they’re Democrats.
They were built at the same time, with the same materials. The half still standing is being vacated.
My immediate thought was Oklahoma City.
Pictures of the devastation and many of the people and entire families missing:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9720381/Eleven-story-Miami-Beach-apartment-building-collapses-sparking-huge-search.html
Indeed. I was referring here to the statement of the gentleman in the video Sundance posted, he said these things don’t just happened and referred to twin piles of burning rubble.
However it came to be, the Left is rushing to weaponize it.
To be clear: by “Oklahoma City” I don’t mean it was intentional… just the imagery of the aftermath.
Copy that.
So tragic.. Prayers
Thank you. That’s precisely all that needs to be said right now.
So how many people have been pulled alive from the rubble? Just one..the young boy? And if so, what floor was he on? I don’t thing anyone is going to be alive under all that concrete wreckage. Terrible disaster.
It was reported earlier (local news?) that one person died in the hospital.
Always sad to see death tolls going up, as families grieve. Hope that the still missing are somehow found alive. First responders, come to do their job and family members of the missing, pray for good news. Through all this, a child gives first responders, sodas and candy. What a beautiful gesture. Our country is not perfect, but when we have to come together, we do. Even the gutless liberals who can’t stop telling everyone who’ll listen, that they hate this country, somehow never find the courage to leave. Bitch and moan almost daily, but they’re still here.
I hope the missing were already at their summer homes somewhere else.
Collapsed Florida condo had ‘major structural damage’ that was reported to HOA in 2018
However, one person said that years of attempts to have the building’s condo board take on expensive repairs was met with stiff resistance from unit owners who were reluctant to spend the funds.
The report also notes that replacing the existing pool deck waterproofing would be “extremely expensive” and “create a major disturbance to the occupants” of Champlain Towers South.
https://lenexnews.com/collapsed-florida-condo-had-major-structural-damage-that-was-reported-to-hoa-in-2018/?fbclid=IwAR0cTod50lhHvkr0ig7RmYTA67_ap63UYpePHl2ux0rl0HIbqPhiHSVf5nM
Those who fought to block the repairs are responsible for the tragedy.
There may be cases of ultimate accountability having been reached here, along with many innocent…
FL condo owners don’t want to pay anything for anything.
Not true- but why should they pay for repairs to a brother of brother to effect the repairs?? Having been an owner of an oceanfront Condo- the graft and corruption with some of the board members and their management companies is astounding!!
The 2018 report was sent the the head of the cities Building Dept. He has the authority to demand immediate repairs. He has the power to shut the building down. According to the Miami herald- two days after he received the 2018 report he held a meeting at the Condo and said everything was OK.
Hm. I guess the occupants are majorly disturbed now.
There really needs to be some kind of method to hold the builders accountable well after they long been paid. I think some kind of insurance policy where every owner pays some type of monthly premium that covers repairs due to faulty construction (say $50 a month for homeowner in the US). The repairs will be made and then the insurance company will file suit to recover damages where gross negligence is found.
The problem is you buy a house or condo and then years later learn about faulty construction issues that have cause very expensive problems that people can’t afford to repair. Then it becomes a matter of doing the cheapest, not the best, repair. This type of insurance policy would allow the home owner to be made whole while holding construction companies accountable. It’ll drive the bad ones out of business.
Geez it’s not the construction company. Building was built 40 years ago. Construction companies don’t design buildings, unless a design-build contract, and I doubt it was. The renovation plans are available online; they show extensive damage to the structure, and show exactly what needed to be done to fix it.
That’s a gross oversimplification. The construction company almost ALWAYS makes design decisions. Have you ever heard of Value Engineering – VE? I have had to battle Owner, Developer, and their Contractor on every project. The Contractor says that some detail or design is too expensive … and the Owner/Developer make me change the design/details.
Some VE can be flat out … dangerous.
I can see your point, Kenji. But the original post advocated going after the contractor after 40 years, and that’s a pretty long tail on a simple, CIP concrete mid-rise, wouldn’t you agree? After all, there seems to be some other factors in play here
Can I sue GM when my 40 year old Tahoe dies?
You chose poorly … my 1990 BMW 325i 5sp is still going strong
Why? Because I maintain the car. I repair the car.
I don’t want to “blame the victims” … but … these condo owners were told to repair and maintain their building. These people drove in and out of their building every single day over a garage ramp that was crumbling. But they voted to NOT spend the $$$
Sorry. But these condo owners chose poorly … they chose to buy a view in a building falling into disrepair. And I expect their units were cheaper than newer surrounding buildings.
I hate to say it, but a Chevy isn’t a BMW. There is a difference. Life is full of CHOICES. Some poor choices lead to a life of economic struggle, and some poor choices can lead to death.
Sorry.
The Tahoe? No. But if you do and the issue is traced to a design flaw in the Tahoe, your heirs could sue. Doubt they’d win because there would be lots of back and forth about maintenance and repairs, but they could sue. Also, GM could most likely afford better lawyers.
Sounds like you’re proposing something like FEMA’s flood insurance. If you live in a flood zone and have a mortgage you have to pay flood insurance and it is run by the government. And the premiums can go up every time there is a hurricane even if you live in Illinois. Sometimes it can price you out of your home. Nightmare.
The homeowners associations have meetings and budgets and decide whether they want to spend money on repairs. They should all have reserves in their budgets to save up for needed repairs. Sometimes the Board doesn’t want to spend the money because then they have to raise everyone’s dues.
I know of a condo association near me in Florida that will not do repairs because they are old and think they will die before a disaster strikes so someone else can pay for it later. Maybe that’s how this board rolled.
The association must have reserves for painting, paving, and roofs, by law. Hi-rises usually have reserves for elevator repairs. Smart associations assess a little more each month to pay for eventual concrete repairs.
The salt air does a lot of damage, and concrete in buildings from the 70s and 80s had very high moisture content, so it rots out the rebar, so there’s not any internal structural support.
This is going to affect every condo built in that time period all along Miami. Maybe more.
I think that Dade County passed an ordinance about 10 years ago that required all buildings more than 40 years old had to be brought up to code, and be inspected. I wonder what happened to that county report on this building.
In Florida you cannot get insurance of that type except through the State. Its called Citizens Insurance. Every person in FL who has homeowner policies pays a special fee to keep that insurance pool for the oceanfront condos solvent. It pisses the rest of the state’s property owners off to be paying for others ability to live on the ocean.
https://www.citizensfla.com/who-we-are
So, only THAT building was documented with lots of scary looking cracks and such. No, I bet every building on that block has the same maintenance issues. And the thermite properly placed just finished the process
groan. Stupidity ignorance and greed surely brought this bldg down.
I’m an engineer, stupidity ignorance and greed are not engineering terms I can analyze
I agree with your 2nd sentence.
Absolutely! Every 30, 40, 50 year old building along the ocean in South Florida is a death trap. I lived in one in Fort Lauderdale on A1A just North of Sunrise Blvd. All the pipes were rusting in the basement. The window frames rusted through completely. The outdoor fan on the balcony rusted after six months and this is the visible rust. You can’t see the steel rebar. Going out of the Intracoastal in my boat there were big chunks of concrete falling from the bridges. The ocean is a brutal environment and spares nothing.
If you don’t realize everything rusts and deteriorates on the coast, you don’t need to be a building contractor there.
Well … if the WTC was dropped by Joos working for the Bush cartel via controlled explosions … then this building must have been intentionally blown-up too.
Thanks for your opinion, Rosie O’Donnell
Lord hear our prayers.
I read that a couple is holding out hope for parents who lived on the third floor because they have had over a hundred calls from their landline phone. Heartbreaking.
i look at the photos of those huge slabs of concrete still dangling on the front of the collapse and pray not a single brave rescuer gets hurt in the rescue attempt.
It has deep state distraction written all over it.
No time for this. A prayer will suffice for the victims and their families, and may the first responders be safe. I think some people just need to have some class during an ongoing search and rescue effort.
Prayers, yes. Thinking, why not?
John McAfee tweeted on 6/8/2020 that he had 31TB of info on a hard drive in his condo at 88th and Collins. The building address is 8777 Collins, on the corner of 88th street and Collins. Something to consider.
Look up this tower on google maps and use the street view to walk around the building to see it before it fell. This was not a well kept building at all, the damage to balconies and cracks in the exterior are very noticeable. All we can do is pray for all those families, it’s so sad.
The Sun Sentinel has photos of the parking garage before the collapse, you can see the under an image search, I don’t have a subscription to the Sentinel so I cant post the photos, but it is so bad, the ceiling looks like it was from an abandoned house that sat for 20 years, not a building with multi million dollar condos. I would have been afraid to park my car in that garage it was so bad, let live inside the building.
reports I saw were the 2bdr/2bath condos in the property were selling for $500 -700k….hardly multimillion dollars
One Condo(Penthouse) sold for close to 3 million.
Yes, these high-rises generally offer a few larger and more luxurious units as well as a couple penthouse units at the top. (As if a half-million dollar condo is something to sneeze at, right?)
Sadly these days if you DON’T live in fly-over country, $500K is a starter unit. So count your housing costs as another one of your blessings.
Just view with no page style and you should be able to read it.
The Sampoong Department Store collapse was a structural failure that occurred on June 29, 1995, in the Seocho-gu district of Seoul, South Korea. The collapse is the largest peacetime disaster in South Korean history, killing 502 people and injuring 937.
Still, the Sampoong Department Store might stand today if not for the air-conditioning machinery installed on top. When tenants of neighboring buildings to the east complained about the noise it made, management moved the three units to the west, not by lifting them with cranes, but by dragging them – their combined 45-tonne weight four times what the building was designed to handle – all the way across the roof. This opened up cracks that widened each and every morning the air conditioners clicked on and vibrated to life over the next two years.
Then came the morning of 29 June 1995. The structure’s visible cracks had widened alarmingly and continued to do so as the day wore on, provoking enough concern to force two executive decisions: first, to switch off the air conditioning, and second, to close the top floor. But Lee refused to evacuate the day’s unusually large and lucrative shopping crowd, and so in the store they remained at 5:52 pm, when the air-conditioning units fell through the roof and the support columns gave way, resulting in the deadliest building collapse since antiquity.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampoong_Department_Store_collapse
What do you guys think about the theory of improperly installed heavy air conditioners on the roof being the cause of the Miami Beach Sufside Condo collapsing?
The units are not big enough.
The structure was likely undermined by shifting ground creating a void.
Could have been caused by a leaking pool, salt water infiltration or construction next door causing liquefaction of the supporting soil.
Buildings cannot withstand that kind of stress for long periods before they let go.
And the center is what collapsed first pulling the rest down.
From the look of the remaining part it seems the 2 were not well connected, that may have saved it from coming down too.
We do know that water has flooded the parking garage.
The real answer is laying at the bottom of the rubble pile.
one structural engineer with some insight 2 days ago said the collapse started at the elevator shaft…this is normally built in the center and represents the core standing strength of most buildings…a collapse of this shaft would weaken all the surrounding structural components and bring portions down with the original collapse
Given the overall state of the building… especially at the ground floor, garage, etc… there was probably a tremendous amount of stress on that elevator shaft for who knows how long.
I haven’t seen any evidence of a CONCRETE elevator shaft. The elevator shafts could have been built from light gage steel framing (all 4 walls) and double layers of gyp bd to achieve the Fire rating.
The elevator shafts could have been nothing more than a hole in every slab with light gauge steel framed walls. Zero structural contribution
Heartbreaking. What do you say?
I always give thanks after hurricanes, family and friends safe, homes intact or repairable damage. We at least have ample time to leave.
These people did not have that opportunity. Unimaginable.
Can a building fall flat as a pancake without demolition ?
Yes.
Agree, Maquis
The whole building was falling apart.
2018 structural engineer report with lots of pictures:
https://www.townofsurfsidefl.gov/docs/default-source/default-document-library/town-clerk-documents/champlain-towers-south-public-records/8777-collins-ave—structural-field-survey-report.pdf?sfvrsn=882a1194_2
Oops… RetiredEE posted above.
Works here too!
Something about the “missing” number of 156 doesn’t make sense to me. Perhaps someone can explain.
There are 9 confirmed dead. But how many residents are accounted for? (I haven’t found that count anywhere.) Has anyone here found the count of how many people actually resided in the building? 9 dead + 156 missing = 165. Add to that all the known survivors, and it seems way to high.
I read that there were about 55 units. That would make sense for a 12-story building of its type. I’m very familiar with highrise oceanside condos of this type, and residents are usually wealthy single or married folks, without children there. (Generally, not popular places to raise a family.) Also, many are wealthy owners who only come down during season.
Even if there were 60 units, 165 residents (dead + missing) seems high. And that doesn’t even count the survivors. It’s a horrible tragedy, and I pray there are no more victims. Does anyone have accurate resident counts to explain this?
According to the NY slime, the bld. had 135 units and about half were in the collapse. So roughly 67 units, avg. 2-3 people each, sounds about right.
Thanks. I hope we’ll hear definitive numbers of units and current residents (not just owners).
Still, my experience is that few high-rise oceanfront condos (FL southeast coast) have 3 people residing in them. Visiting, maybe. And I’d think that some would be empty this time of year.
It’s hard to fathom 156 people missing. I sure hope not.
Here great video to watch, and it includes all the inspection photos from 2018. Champlain Towers had to pay for cars to be repainted due to the deteriorating ceilings in the parking garage.
He’s one of those skilled individuals who can communicate clearly, in simple terms, for the layperson…..the last few minutes of the video (around 29:00) are potentially devastating, it seems. Not good.
Very informative. Thank you Maggiemoowho.
Thanks for posting…. very interesting
Where are the heavy cranes and other equipment not out there clearing off the debris urgently??????????
Because there are rescue workers in there and if you rush this, you could get them killed, there is still a huge risk of collapse, also the building pancaked, they don’t want to crush anyone that may have survived. Don’t forget they need to find and remove the smallest of remains(a toe, finger, ect). It is slow and tedious work.
Massively heavy concrete slabs enlaced and entwined with twisted rebar throughout . . .
Very difficult to move anything, a lot of cutting must be done, bringing the risk of fire as well of flooding when addressing such fires. I absolutely do not envy those tasked with this operation.
The site is at the point where it begins to reek of death.
Once you’ve smelled death, you never forget it.
God bless the people still attempting rescues.
God bless the souls lost.
Michael, please accept them and guide them to our Lord.
What sand did they use to mix the concrete?
Of course, nobody will be held responsible. This is what get these days.
There likely are few or no ‘steel I-beams’ in this building, except perhaps forming the elevator shafts
This style of building likely is all reinforced concrete (concrete cast in place with steel rebar)
— the thick vertical support columns
— the floor slabs
— upright bearing walls from floor to floor
All concrete
… actually, there ARE a couple of I-beams visible in one of the Daily Mail photos
but – again – they’re likely not a large fraction of the structure like the steel skyscrapers of New York and elswhere
When this building was built, shear caps on columns were rather simplified. As in … there are none. Looking at the building details there is nothing but a 7-8” double mat slab passing over the columns.
The shear cap is nothing but some heavier 90deg. rebar dowels from column to slab. When the slabs start failing … the slabs will just punch thru the columns with little resistance.
Here in seismicland … columns are given thickened concrete slabs at columns with heavier reinforcement. The connection between column and slabs is much stronger
But this costs $$$ quite a bit more as the formwork and rebar get much more complicated. This building had dead level formwork with no interruptions … very cheap and easy to build.
I’ve just heard an interesting coincidence which may bear some looking into. I’ll preface this with a reminder that certain government agencies know about things that may happen and either help them to happen or merely allow them to happen at a given time. Many tragedies on large (and small?) scale were already known about at some level just as 9/11, the Boston bombing and countless mass shootings.
So many have heard that El Salvador has adopted bitcoin as legal tender. Some may have heard stories both suggesting and denying the notion that Paraguay is also prepared to do the same. (It makes sense because the US isn’t the only country which relies on the US dollar which is currently suffering of “over-printing!”)
Well it turns out the first lady of Paraguay had a sister which may have been lost in the Surfside Condo collapse.
I was one of the first ere to think the collapse of the building was strange because (1) no explosion and (2) its eerie similarity to a sinkhole collapse. And now we find out that tis building was known by government officials to be suffering from structural problems which were reportedly under repair.
That alone should make people go “what?!” Why wasn’t this whole site evacuated to begin with?
The sinkhole theory hasn’t been shown to be true in this case and some people are already debunking it. So was the need for repairs far worse than believed and the failure to evacuate the building an act of greed on the part of the owners while the lack of notice by government regulators an act of corruption and/or also greed?
And are there ways other than explosives to bring down a building? Especially under these conditions? Well? Yes there is. Through the use of sound or other rhythmic stimulation, bridges and other structures have been utterly destroyed.
So another theory emerges… was this event a message to Paraguay warning them to not adopt Bitcoin as legal tender as a means of guarding against the collapse of the US Dollar?
I was recently reminded about the shock test explosion on the Gerald Ford ship off the coast of Florida. It was 2 days prior to this collapse and created a 3.9 magnitude earthquake (if that is the right term). It seems reasonable to assume this could have been a contributing factor to the building collapse. I read here about the sandy foundation, friction piling, and deteriorating building condition. This explosion could have been a catalyst to cause this. I stress ‘could’ not ‘was’.
To be clear, I have no firm belief or suspicion in any of these ideas. But as facts come in, it’s useful to have as many “bingo cards” as possible to see which one adds up to “bingo” first.
I think the term you are looking for is “seismic event” as “earthquake” isn’t exactly wrong either but some might insist it requires either tectonic plate movement of a volcanic eruption.
And any weak building which experiences a seismic event will very likely be affected as well.
Coincidences happen. “Perfect storms” happen. But I don’t think anything can be easily ruled out yet and on the darkest side of things, we all know at some (multiple) level(s) that some people will stop at nothing to get what they want.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2021/06/27/sufside-condo-collapse-update-death-toll-rises-to-nine-156-people-still-missing/#comment-7856870
Oh man! The video at about 29 minutes really agrees with rhythmic stimulation.
If you have a bingo card labeled “tragic errors” you might fill in a square or two there.
Incompetence and kicking the can down the road causes innocent people to be crushed to death in their own beds.
I am praying for souls of those who perished and for the thousands who will be impacted by their loss.
Dear G-d Bless the souls of those we have lost, and give strength and hold upright their loved ones, family, friends, coworkers, fellow students, acquaintances. And bring swift and severe justice to those who ignored the warning signs and did nothing putting all these lives at risk. Amen!
While those who have lost loved ones deserve our sympathy, remember that it is likely that part of the reason the repairs weren’t made is because those “innocent people” complained about how much it would have cost to complete the repairs. It doesn’t absolve those who held ultimate authority on the decision.
Does anybody but me think about the 40,000 ton bomb the Navy detonated off the coast of Floria, which had the impact a 3.2 earthquake? One of the articles I read about a women that got out of the building mentioned that a security guard and she talked about – was this an earthquake? Well, maybe…..a man made earthquake.
In 1989, during the earthquake in California, in the Marina section of SF, buildings collapsed just the way the Champlain Towers collapsed – the top floor going down vertically on top of all the lower floors. The Marina buildings were also built on “landfill” and reclaimed wetlands. At that time it was said that the ground shook “like jello” due to the earthquake.
The Champlain Towers had noticeable structural defects and had been slowly sinking. Well, who knows really but still.
the ocean/salt air laden environment will eventually do this to most structures, piles resting on limestone with overburden that is being scoured out, connections corroding at any precast concrete, not a good investment,
Properly done, concrete buildings can last CENTURIES. Improperly done, it’s anyone’s guess.
We got sooo smart…….
We can build nuclear reactors on fault lines AND high rises in wet, sandy areas??
Common sense violations which only after disaster look for blame??
I was reading earlier about a resident who wasn’t home at the time, but was talking on the phone to his wife who was in their 4th floor condo. As she glanced out the window overlooking the pool, she commented on a strange sight. She described how a hole was opening up near the pool … … then the call dropped. His wife is among the missing. She had no chance, and didn’t know she was watching her approaching doom.