SURFSIDE, Florida — As the death toll rose to
nine, searchers worked on Sunday to find more than 150 missing residents amid
the rubble of a Florida apartment building that collapsed three days ago, as
questions arose about the tower's structural integrity.
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The death toll was certain to rise as emergency workers in
Surfside, a shore town near Miami, were joined by teams from Israel and experts
from Mexico.
"Everybody that is needed is on the site and doing the
work and we're continuing our efforts to find people alive," Miami-Dade
County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told CBS on Sunday.
Officials said they harbored hope that some of the 156
people unaccounted for might be alive. Aided by dogs, sonar, drones and
infrared scanning, they hope people can survive in air pockets that may have
formed in the debris.
A smoldering fire beneath the rubble that produced thick
smoke and hindered the work of rescuers has abated, officials said. A trench
was dug to separate the areas of smoking debris from the rest of the rubble and
rescuers are also using tunnels, Levine Cava said.
"The biggest thing now is hope," Fire Chief Alan
Cominsky said. "That's what's driving us. It's an extremely difficult
situation."
Some families of those missing have provided DNA samples to
officials while others recounted narrow escapes. Police released the names of
four victims who ranged in age from 54 to 83.
Champlain Towers South resident Erick de Moura was supposed
to be home when the building collapsed, but his girlfriend persuaded him to
spend the night at her place less than 2 miles (3 km) away in Miami Beach,
likely saving his life.
"Only by God. To me this is a miracle," the
40-year-old Brazil native told Reuters.
Photographs of the missing were posted on a nearby fence,
along with flowers and messages. On Saturday, family members prayed and kept a
silent vigil at a barrier erected on the beach by authorities several hundred
yards north of the building site. They declined to comment.
Some residents remain in the sister building to the one that
collapsed, where only a voluntary evacuation order has been issued. A building
inspector did not find any immediately obvious problems with the other
building.
"Having said that, I don't know if I'd be comfortable
staying in that building," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said, until a
comprehensive review was completed.
Officials said on Saturday that Miami-Dade County would
audit all buildings more than 40 years old within the next 30 days to ensure
their safety.
Surfside officials have released documents including an
engineer's report from 2018 that found major structural damage beneath the pool
deck and "concrete deterioration" in the underground parking garage
of the 12-story condominium.
The report was produced for the Champlain Towers South
condominium board in preparation for a major repair project set for this year.
It was not immediately clear whether the damage described in
the report was connected to the collapse about 1:30am (0530 GMT) on Thursday.
Donna DiMaggio Berger, a lawyer who works with the condo
association, said the issues outlined in the 2018 report were typical for older
buildings in the area and did not alarm board members, all of whom lived in the
tower with their families.
The report estimated it would cost $9.1 million to make the
recommended repairs. Berger said the board had taken out a $12 million line of
credit to pay for the repairs and asked owners to pay $80,000 each. Work had
started on replacing the roof ahead of hurricane season and the board was
gathering bids for the concrete work, but the pandemic slowed the project, she
said.
Satellite data from the 1990s showed the building was
sinking 1 to 3 millimeters per year, while surrounding buildings were stable,
according to Florida International University professor Shimon Wdowinski.
Gregg Schlesinger, a lawyer and former general contractor
who specializes in construction-failure cases, said other factors could have
contributed to the collapse, but it was clear to him that the structural issues
identified in the 2018 report were the main cause.
He said investigations and the inevitable lawsuits will
eventually paint a full picture of what caused the disaster.
"But we do know one thing: there was a structural
failure," he said. "We know another thing: The structural failure
should not have occurred."
He said all seaside buildings in the area should be
inspected every five years to ensure they have not been degraded by the
corrosive salt air, not just those over 40 years old.
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