Apartment building partially collapses near Miami Beach, rescues underway

Remember the Tehran Building Collapse..? Jan 19, 2017 Though it was on fire when it disintegrated.
(Ark) It's probably much easier for the island than on the mainland...
(L) Yeah, because you've got separation with the ocean bed and different strata. It would be too uncontrollable if you started zapping a fault on a large land body.
(Andromeda) Like California?



Florida is detached from the main body of the continental US.
Wouldn't be surprised that deep state (like C's said) are desperate. The power grabs seem to be escalating globally.

I noticed this in the news today or yesterday in relation to Paraguay looking to go the El Salvador route for Bitcoin. Could possibly have some connection in terms of a message or action in relation to this given c.a.'s post with the tweet that the president of Paraguay had familial relations affected (sister-in-law and family). After El Salvador, Paraguay Is Set To Legalize Bitcoin in July

There maybe some clues on the report below.
Miami building collapse, infrastructure, disasters | Homeland Security Newswire
What we know about the Miami building collapse | Nightline

Engineering and architectural experts said it may take a long time to piece together what caused the partial collapse of the condo building near Miami, but there are a few areas that investigators will want to look for: corroded components, an undermined foundation, or defects in the construction or design.

“When a building falls downward on itself it’s more likely that there was a loss of support somewhere,” said Abieyuwa Aghayere, a professor of civil, architectural and environmental engineering at Drexel University.

The Champlain Towers South complex in Surfside, Fla., was about to undergo extensive repairs for corrosion and concrete spalling as part of a required structural recertification for buildings when they reach 40 years of age. Ocean salts can penetrate structures to begin rusting steel components, in particular rebar that may be improperly protected.

But there are other factors that could make a building vulnerable to collapse. Charlie Danger, who retired as Miami-Dade County’s building chief seven years ago, said unpermitted remodeling could result in someone eliminating a structural support column.
Meanwhile, some experts such as Mr. Aghayere said a sinkhole or other foundation problems could lead to major instability under buildings.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade County both promised on Friday that there would be a full investigation of the collapse.

“We need a definitive explanation for how this could have happened,” Mr. DeSantis said.

Federal investigators had also been dispatched to the scene. The National Institute of Standards and Technology, which investigated the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9/11, sent a team of experts to Florida on Friday afternoon to meet with local building officials and engineers.

That team will ask about the design of the building, how it may have been modified and what happened before the collapse, according to Sissy Nikolaou, an expert on geotechnical engineering who is part of the group flying to Miami. She said she expects the team’s first visit to last about a week, and could eventually lead to findings aimed at improving building standards.

“We have not seen the site yet,” Dr. Nikolaou said in an interview. “We have to understand the landscape of a disaster.”

Researchers using space-based radar to examine the flooding potential in the Miami Beach area had noticed long before the collapse that the Champlain Towers South was subsiding in ways that neighboring properties were not.

“I was surprised,” said Shimon Wdowinski, an environmental professor at Florida International University. “I didn’t expect to see movement over there. That’s a stable part of the city.”

But Mr. Wdowinski said even larger amounts of subsidence are often seen in areas that don’t see buildings collapse.

There have been other complaints from residents of the condominium complex. One resident filed a lawsuit over water intrusion that she blamed on poor maintenance. Others complained that nearby construction had sent rumbles through the condo building.

Mike Baker is the Seattle bureau chief, reporting primarily from the Northwest and Alaska. @ByMikeBaker

Christopher Flavelle focuses on how people, governments and industries try to cope with the effects of global warming. He received a 2018 National Press Foundation award for coverage of the federal government's struggles to deal with flooding. @cflav

Mitch Smith covers the Midwest and the Great Plains. Since joining The Times in 2014, he has written extensively about gun violence, oil pipelines, state-level politics and the national debate over police tactics. He is based in Chicago.
@mitchksmith
 
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A number of bright lights flashing can be seen during and after the collapse. Might just be electrical short circuits? I dunno. The brightest flash appears right at the beginning, pretty much exactly where the first portion of the building starts to collapse into itself, within the building. It indeed pretty much looks like how a building would collapse in a controlled demolition of some sorts.

Looking at it again, the mentioned "bright flashes" right at the beginning could also just have been lights that were switched on before the collapse inside the building and then went out when it collapsed.
 
I really would like to see the 30 sec of video before the collapse started, but the clip starts right when the collapse starts. Maybe more footage will become available in the future. If it doesn't, then the video starting where it does might be suspicious and meant to hide what contributed to the collapse.

That's a good point. It seems the only publically available footage is from the mentioned CCTV recording, which was seemingly captured off from a computer screen! Could it be that whoever captured that footage off from that screen had access to the recording from the original and then captured it from the screen, before it was confiscated? Who captured it from the screen and how did he got the footage? Why has the original not been published, and why can't wee see the crucial seconds/minutes before the collapse already started?
 
Looking at it again, the mentioned "bright flashes" right at the beginning could also just have been lights that were switched on before the collapse inside the building and then went out when it collapsed.

I thought of electrical arcing. If the innards of the building started to collapse first, lots of wiring protected by many, many different circuit breakers would have been ripped apart.

If the building was made in the 80's, there may not have been any GFCI/RCD/differential breakers (the ones that prevent even tiny fault currents that stop the heart), which would mean more arcing. At least back in the day, very often the GFCI breakers were in the power outlets themselves, which meant there was no added protection between the breaker panel and the outlets. Bad idea!
 
Je suis restée surprise devant cet effondrement avec un malaise de déjà vu. je me suis dis" oh mon Dieu les pauvres gens". :shock:en pensant à ceux qui étaient dans les bâtiments.
ensuite, je me suis dis que cet effondrement n'était pas naturel malgré les explications diverses que j'ai pu lire.
enfin à qui profite le crime? le savoir pourrait donner des réponses à cet effondrement. .. ou alors plus de questions;-)

I was surprised by this collapse with a feeling of déjà vu. I said to myself "oh my God the poor people". :shock:thinking of those who were in the buildings.
then, i said to myself that this collapse was not natural in spite of the various explanations that i could read.
finally, who benefits from the crime? knowing this could give answers to this collapse... or else more questions:-D
 
It's possible no conspiracy was involved:

Scientists discovered a year ago that 12-floor Miami condo was SINKING and needed extensive repairs for rusted steel and damaged concrete - as it's revealed work on roof may have triggered deadly collapse leaving 99 missing

A report last year revealed the 12-story condo building that killed one person and left 99 missing when it collapsed on Thursday was sinking and possibly in dangerous condition before the horrific event - sparking questions if the tragedy could have been prevented and how to prevent similar collapses in the future.
The test explosion by the Navy ship 100 miles offshore that registered as a 3.9 magnitude "earthquake" may have been the trigger - the building might still be standing otherwise. See Hypothesis 4 in this article from the Miami Herald:

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.
Six experts discussed with the Miami Herald the potential causes of Thursday morning’s calamity and which they thought most plausible based on the information currently available in photos, video and records released by the city.

While none felt certain of their answers, most seemed to agree that the way the building collapsed seemed to be triggered by a failure near the base of the structure.
“It looks similar to something that was intentionally demolished,” said Kevin DuBrey, the director of project management at Hillman Engineering, a firm that inspects high-rise buildings in South Florida for potential damage. “Usually they would do that underneath. They would set the charges on the columns and beams down below and let it collapse on itself.”

Gene Santiago, a structural engineer and retired building inspector, said he “still can’t get over the way it fell down — like an implosion,” he said. “Like a demolition job.”
While experts suggested the following hypotheses were most likely to have caused the collapse, they also stressed that a combination of various factors was possible. Atorod Azizinamini, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Florida International University, told the Herald that this type of collapse is usually the result of “a perfect storm of several factors coming together at the same time.”

HYPOTHESIS 1: STEEL CORROSION IN STRUCTURE​

Structural plans from 1979 show that the Champlain Towers South Condo was built using a “flat slab” style of construction in which concrete slabs reinforced by steel rebar sit directly on top of support columns — a common method of construction for everything from parking garages to apartment buildings, experts said.

Over time, the rebar in the concrete can become corroded and crack the slab and joints, potentially weakening the structure. If one part of the structure collapses due to corrosion, it could cause a larger catastrophe.

“When you have one structural failure in one column or beam, it’s a domino effect,” said Charles Danger, retired building chief for Miami-Dade County.

A concrete slab that’s damaged by corrosion can be prone to a type of failure called “punching,” in which the column punctures the slab and weakens the overall structure, said Abieyuwa Aghayere, a professor of forensic engineering at Drexel University. He said that could be one explanation for the building’s sudden collapse.

“Punching is usually sudden,” he said. “It doesn’t give much warning.”

A 2018 report by Frank Morabito, an engineer who inspected the condo, found that poor drainage in the pool deck caused “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below.

“If the pool is leaking and the pool slab is gradually getting destroyed, that could be a problem if it is not maintained,” Santiago said. “Again, it seems like something the residents and condo association would have noticed and corrected.”

Normally, experts said cracks indicating corrosion would be visible, but Morabito said he had limited access to assess the extent of the damage that may have been partially obscured by tiles placed on top of the slab. It’s unclear from the limited records made available by Surfside whether the damage was repaired.

Still, experts cautioned not to jump to conclusions. Investigators will go through the debris to determine the likelihood of failure due to corrosion.

“Contaminated concrete should not have been an extreme problem that would cause catastrophic failure in a 1981 building,” said Miami engineer John Pistorino.

When asked about the likelihood of this kind of damage, experts agreed context is important.

“It’s not inconsequential that this building was on the beach,” said Peter Dyga, president of a Florida chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors. He called the salt water and humid air “some of the harshest conditions on earth.”

HYPOTHESIS 2: FAILURE IN THE FOUNDATION​

The condo was built on a “concrete pile foundation” that appears to sit directly on top of the limestone bedrock, according to the 1979 plans.

Danger, the retired building chief for Miami-Dade County, described the Champlain towers as “conventional concrete buildings for that era, nothing fancy, nothing out of the ordinary.” Experts agreed that the type of foundation should have withstood shifts in the soil and other changes in the ground.

“There should be no issues with the foundation, period, because we design here for harsh and corrosive conditions, high winds and storm surge,” said Pistorino, an engineer with a 50-year career in Miami who has been instrumental in writing state and county building safety laws. “The only time I’ve seen whole buildings collapse because the foundation failed was when Hurricane Gilbert hit Mexico — but it’s totally different construction down there.”

To investigate foundation issues, inspectors will generally take “concrete cores to look at the actual foundation and additional borings to see how the pilings held up,” he said.

“Nothing strikes me [as a red flag],” Aghayere said after reviewing the foundation design. Still, he said, investigators will look at more than just the plan.

“Again, as part of the failure hypothesis, is to say OK, how stable is the rock at the bottom? At least to rule that in or rule that out,” he said.

HYPOTHESIS 3: CONSTRUCTION DAMAGE​

Champlain Towers South was in the early stages of three years of expected construction on various aspects of the building, starting with the roof, said Jeff Rose, a contractor who has done renovations on units there and whose parents lived there — and were out of town when it collapsed.

Rose said construction on the roof had begun about six weeks ago, which involved replacing the roof, replacing the stands on which air conditioning condensers rested, and replacing electrical disconnects for air conditioning units. Rose said his parents could hear jackhammers or other demolition tools being used to remove the old roof.

“If they were storing materials and equipment on the roof in an incorrect location in the middle of the slab instead of on top of the columns, that could cause stress on the roof,” said Santiago, explaining that roofs are designed to hold 30 pounds per square foot to meet code. “If you’ve got an overloaded roof slab and it punches through, it goes down, down, down, one level pulling down the next — pom, pom, pom — and it never ends until it hits the bottom.”

Roof failure could have triggered a “perfect storm” collapse, theorized John Colby, a retired architect from Boca Raton.

“Causes could include tendon corrosion due to water exposure or inadvertent severing or weakening of tendons, leading to progressive failure,” he said in an email. “This would of course be exacerbated if, at the same time, unusual dead and live loads were being imposed by re-roofing equipment and materials. And even further if any destructive testing was done on the roof during the ongoing 40-year structural evaluation. Such a roof failure would also be consistent with reports and the video of the ‘pancake’ sequence.”

But the concerns were contradicted by Surfside’s building official, James McGuinness, at an emergency commission meeting on Friday. McGinness said he had been on the roof just 14 hours before the building partially collapsed. He said the roof work had been paused because of rain, but that he was there to inspect newly installed anchors that support so-called “swing stages” used by workers who scale the side of the building to clean its windows.

McGuinness threw cold water on the idea that heavy machinery on the roof could have contributed to the collapse.

“There was no extraordinary mass materials on the roof that would do this,” he said.

But experts said any previous roof repair work could have caused any number of other problems that would worsen over time.

“If they were doing roof work, it could be one of the drains was plugged and caused water to collect. But it doesn’t look that way based on the way it collapsed,” said DuBrey, from Hillman Engineering.

HYPOTHESIS 4: SHAKING AND TREMORS FROM EXTERNAL CAUSES​

South tower tenants had complained about shaking and vibration in their units last year during construction of the neighboring Eighty Seven Park building. But the builder would have taken mitigating measures to prevent any damage at Champlain, such as digging a trench to buffer the reverberations, Santiago said.

“Yes, you might notice your dishes rattling but the chances of that nearby construction leading to catastrophic instability are very low,” he said.
In addition to the nearby construction, some in South Florida raised concerns that a Navy test explosion off the coast of Florida that caused tremors like a small earthquake in South Florida last week could have also been a potential cause of the collapse.

The Navy put out a statement saying that on June 18 it conducted the first of several planned so-called Full Ship Shock Trials (FSSTs) in the coming months off the coast. The USS Gerald R. Ford was about 100 miles from Ponce Inlet in Volusia County when a 40,000 pound explosive was set off right next to it. Video provided from the Navy on Twitter shows the ship, and then and a cloud balloon in the water.
Ponce Inlet is about 250 miles north of Surfside.

“[Investigators] are going to check it out,” Aghayere said, noting most buildings in Florida are not designed to withstand earthquakes.

WHAT COMES NEXT?​

Even with the inspection records and building plans released by the city, experts said it’s still too early to draw any conclusions.
“What started it? Who knows?” said Danger, who feared speculation is hurting the people still waiting for news about family and friends who were in the building at the time of the collapse. “I hope when the investigation is finished, there will be some answers and some relief for the survivors. But it’s going to take time to find out if this was preventable or if it was going to happen no matter what as a once-in-a-lifetime catastrophe. Certainly in my lifetime, I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Sadly, I read that rescuers were hearing tapping under the debris that has since dissipated . . . :cry:
 
If you don't have time, just skip to the link in red.

Demolitions video No#1, where two times part of a directly joining structure remains intact.
Failed demolitions video No#2:
1. at videotime 1:07 the top part of the building falls to the ground, but it doesn't collapse!
2. At videotime 2:36 this Turkish building simply behaves as a concrete soccer ball..

This Soviet building - at videotime 7:07 - resembles the Miami condo somewhat and does not collapse like a house of cards, because too little explosives are used: experts didn't want to damage neighboring buildings. Probably built more sturdily as well in a not so rusting climate.
Same video at 10:42: central elevator shaft is built from way stronger material and only bounces down, but does not collapse! :-O

Same video and most interesting at 12:00, a similar collapse to the Miami condo occurs: see the stunning result at 12:23!

Same video and we arrived to Miami!
At videotime 13:35: (transcript)
Miami condo to be demolished collapses from itself:

"But sometimes things can take place before anyone expects them to.. In 2018 workers were preparing a condo in Miami for destruction.. but it was already far weaker than surveyors have realized. They were in the process of placing explosives around ""Marmorro""-house and suddenly the building collapsed on its own accord! Witnesses said they didn't hear any explosions and that the only sound was that of crumbling concrete!
Footage shows not everyone was clear when it happened.
Luckily the residents were evacuated well ahead of time.. Only one worker was injured. But it could have been so much worse!"

- Yeah, you don't say!!

2018 - Miami condo self-collapse incident:
"Investigations into the incident found that it was the cutting through the support beams of the building that caused the problem. This is the standard procedure in demolitions and its a requirement to make sure they fall down in a controlled manner. It turned out that they were all that were keeping this condo standing in the first place! So once they were gone, there was only one thing that was going to happen."

WOW! :-o
 
Demolitions video No#1, where two times part of a directly joining structure remains intact.
Failed demolitions video No#2:
1. at videotime 1:07 the top part of the building falls to the ground, but it doesn't collapse!
2. At videotime 2:36 this Turkish building simply behaves as a concrete soccer ball..
You´ve attached the same video twice. ;-) Is this the Turkish failed demolition you mentioned? It really missed the other house by inch.... :-O
 
Things have taken a twist....Maybe there is a coverup in progress...?

Now Israel becomes involved.....Hmmmm.?

More bodies pulled from wreckage, with 156 still missing; IDF commander at scene offers hope that survivors could still be found

A team of Israeli search-and-rescue specialists joined American workers on Sunday at the site of a Florida apartment building that partially collapsed on Thursday, killing at least nine people, with 156 still missing.

Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai also arrived at the site on Sunday to provide support to the ongoing rescue efforts.

“This is one of the best, if not the best and most experienced… Israeli rescue team,” Shai said Sunday. “They have been all over the world in many similar situations.”

According to the IDF, the delegation is headed by
Col. (res.) Golan Vach, and consists of 10 reserve officers from the Home Front Command, all top experts in engineering.

Delegation official Elad Edri said the team is hopeful they can still rescue people alive.

“We are here to bring hope,” said Edri, according to the Diaspora Ministry. “After the earthquake in Haiti, we rescued someone after 108 hours. So there is still a chance.”

MDA-Minister-with-Home-Front-COmmand-640x400.jpeg

Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai and the IDF search-and-rescue delegation that arrived on Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Surfside, Florida, to aid in recovery efforts at the building collapse. (Diaspora Affairs Ministry)

But Shai was less optimistic, telling Channel 13 news that “the chance [of finding anyone alive] is small.” He said rescue teams at the site were “searching with mechanical devices, and even with their hands.” And while “there isn’t much optimism… [responders] will keep searching for as long as they can.

Teams in protective gear, backed by two huge cranes and aided by sniffer dogs, have been working nonstop in torrid heat and high humidity since the early-morning collapse.

Four more bodies were pulled from the wreckage on Sunday, bringing the confirmed death toll in the disaster to nine, with more than 150 people still unaccounted for.

“There is progress being made,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday. “We’ve got waves of search-and-rescue teams that are flowing over the site, going in and going out. So it’s moving along.”

“We don’t have a resource problem,” Burkett said. “We have a luck problem. We need to get more lucky right now.”

The 12-story oceanfront Champlain Towers South pancaked in the middle of the night Thursday as residents slept. Surveillance video of the collapse showed it coming down in just a few seconds.

Many members of the local Jewish community were among those affected by the tragedy in Surfside, near Miami Beach, and Israel had vowed to help with the agonizing search and with the identification of victims.

MDA-Minister-with-Governor-DeSantis-and-Lieutenant-Jeanette-Nunez-1-640x400.jpeg

Diaspora Affairs Minister Nachman Shai (right) speaks to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at the site of a building collapse near Miami on June 27, 2021. (Diaspora Affairs Ministry)

Magen David Adom’s international unit and paramedics and EMTs with the South Florida Hatzalah have also been working around the clock at the disaster site.

“I came to Miami to connect the community and families to the forces at the scene and in Israel and help in any way possible during the crisis,” said MDA paramedic Uriel Goldberg, who arrived from Israel to Miami on Friday. “The teams work around the clock with great commitment, while being careful in a complex and dangerous scene and in very complex field conditions.”

Minister Shai also met with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as well as Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Cava Levine, to offer the support of the State of Israel in all rescue efforts.

“I was instructed by the prime minister to check what the needs are and tell you that we are here and ready. There are no limits to what we are ready to offer,” Shai told DeSantis. “We brought you our best people. We chose carefully each one of these individuals, who come with relevant experiences from past events. If you need another 100, we have them.”

The minister also met with Florida Senator Rick Scott, as well as Jewish leaders in Surfside and with the families of missing persons still waiting for news of their loved ones.

Paul Leary, deep state and keeper of the gate.




Shades of Barbara Olson







https://twitter.com/MayorDaniella/status/1409139563159826434


Quote: SNIP:
Scores of rescue workers remained on the massive pile of rubble, searching for survivors but so far only finding bodies and human remains.

In a meeting with families on Saturday evening, people moaned and wept as Miami Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah explained why he could not answer their repeated questions about how many victims they had found.

"It’s not necessarily that we’re finding victims, OK? We’re finding human remains," Jadallah said, according to the video posted on Instagram.

Every time crews find remains, they clean the area and remove the remains. They work with a rabbi to ensure any religious rituals are done properly, Jadallah said.

"So the question is, is why is things taking so long?" he said, "What we’re doing is making sure that everything is followed to a ‘T.’"
The first team members arrived Friday, said Jason Averill, an official at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. That agency also investigated the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11, and more recently
, Hurricane Maria devastation in Puerto Rico, among other disasters.

Separately, the government of Israel said it was sending a team of engineering and rescue specialists to aid the search. Israeli media have reported that some 20 citizens of that country were believed among the missing.

 

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Mike Stratton awoke to the sound of his cellphone. It was his wife, Cassie Stratton, on the other end, speaking frantically about their condo building shaking. She told him she saw a sinkhole where the pool used to be. Then the line went dead.

Trying to make sense of her statement because the pool is still there. And I don’t see any sort of sinkhole. It looks like the pool deck fell one level onto the parking deck on the side closest to the remaining building. Hmmm....

c.a. wrote "Shades of Barbara Olson"
My first thought as well.

Another resident said there were 2 collapses. The first happened in the posting garage, long enough before that he, his sister, and his mom were able to get out of their unit (111) and go to the garage to check BEFORE the building collapsed. Unit 111 is now gone.

A 2018 report said there was significant structural damage in the same area--the pool deck and parking garage entry area--due to improper drainage. It was never repaired, despite warnings that the problems would compound over time.
 
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