Florida high-rise Condo partial collapse

[MightyGiants]

How does something like this happen?!?!




https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-57592827

[MightyGiants]

[MightyGiants]

[html]

JUST IN: Video I

[MightyGiants]

Up to 51 people may be missing.   Here is a before and after photo

[DaveBrown74]

How does something like this happen?!?!

Sinkhole and paid off building inspector seems to be the best bet right now.

[MightyGiants]

What I have heard is that the building was built on reclaimed wetlands and there was a study that showed the ground was sinking at an alarming rate back in the 90s

[jimv]

What I have heard is that the building was built on reclaimed wetlands and there was a study that showed the ground was sinking at an alarming rate back in the 90s

Stupid is as stupid does...

[MightyGiants]

there could be nearly 100 people dead in that pile of rubble, this is a pretty tragic event

[DaveBrown74]

there could be nearly 100 people dead in that pile of rubble, this is a pretty tragic event

Agreed, it is beyond awful. Lots of children too.

[MightyGiants]

this really brings it home

https://www.local10.com/news/local/2021/06/24/surfside-collapse-loved-ones-name-those-they-say-are-missing/

[MightyGiants]

I have a feeling this disaster could have ramifications far beyond this one building.   It's possible there are other buildings with similar risks all over the area


https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cause-miami-condo-collapse-unclear-experts-say-barrier-islands-present-n1272316

It's now up to 159 missing

[DaveBrown74]

I wonder if there is a paper trail somewhere that will lead to either gross negligence on the part of an inspector or superintendent, or, worse, that someone in a senior position in the building management company or an owner somehow knowingly looked the other way or otherwise circumvented the system out of greed or laziness.

Buildings don't just collapse like that on their own. Someone somewhere had to know that things weren't right structurally.

[MightyGiants]

I wonder if there is a paper trail somewhere that will lead to either gross negligence on the part of an inspector or superintendent, or, worse, that someone in a senior position in the building management company or an owner somehow knowingly looked the other way or otherwise circumvented the system out of greed or laziness.

Buildings don't just collapse like that on their own. Someone somewhere had to know that things weren't right structurally.

These are Condos so each unit is individually owned and the building is managed by a Condo Association (usually elected by or appointed by the Condo owners).   In Miami (or Florida, I am not sure) they are required to have a building inspection every 40 years.   This building was in the process of performing this inspection.   Hopefully, there is some information that was gleaned from the inspection that might help figure out how this terrible tragedy happened.

From my experiences and a general fascination with how disasters happen, I would wager it was a multiple breakdown type of thing.  Usually (but not always), horrible disasters are not the result of just one factor, but rather multiple factors

[MightyGiants]

I just read three NY Times articles on the collapse.  It seems like the building was going to have a multi-million dollar renovation to repair cracked and spalling concrete and rust from steel structures underneath like columns and rebar.   

After reading these articles, this may be an issue with having a building so close to the ocean.  The constant salt in the air causes corrosion of any exposed metal like the steel rebar (metal rods used to give concrete strength) and even the steel columns. 

It's possible that this was an issue of the building rusting away to the point of failure.


It's also possible that improper renovation in some of the units could have cut through structural support columns.


It's going to take months to figure out what happened (maybe even longer).

[DaveBrown74]

MG,

Thanks for the comments/info. Informative and helpful - appreciate it.

Tragically, I have to assume that most if not all of the missing have probably perished by now. If your were trapped after the collapse, even if you were not seriously injured in any way, you can't really go more than three days without water, and it's probably less than that in what I would assume to be pretty significant heat.