Sad, sad deal. I hope none of you are affected in any way... https://www.winknews.com/2021/06/24/massive-response-to-partial-building-collapse-in-south-florida/ Many feared dead after Miami-area beachfront condo collapses A wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed with a roar in a town outside Miami early Thursday, killing at least one person and trapping residents in rubble and twisted metal. Rescuers pulled out dozens of survivors and continued to look for more. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said one person was killed and nine injured when Champlain Towers South collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. He said two people were taken to a hospital and one of them died. The other eight who were hurt were treated at the scene. “The building is literally pancaked,” Burkett said. “That is heartbreaking because it doesn’t mean to me that we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive.” Burkett said 55 units were gone and the building was fully occupied at the time.....
Tragic, tragic in the number of dead and wounded and tragic that some building inspectors and building contractors didn't do their jobs.
Has there been any indication as to what MAY have caused the collapse? It seems odd that a building that size would collapse like that without any external force initiating the movement. It didn't look windy in the video. Normal live loading from people is very unlikely.... I guess we'll have to wait and see what comes out from the investigation.
One thing I heard is the the ground (sand?) has been slowly sinking for years. When I watched the video, it strangely reminded me of the twin towers' demise.
It looks like the building collapsed in the center of the building. Also it looks like the buildings were built in 1981... It might be a HOA maintenance issue... Although the facade issues would not have caused this. https://www.wsj.com/articles/miami-area-condo-collapse-causes-massive-emergency-response-11624532492
I could see that if there was liquefaction occurring - but again you'd need some external force (like an earthquake) to induce the liquefaction.
If I had to guess I would guess it's related to the ground it's built on. Be that sand or whatever. The way it collapsed makes me think there was a problem with the foundation. But I'm not a structural engineer so I'm just guessing.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...cture-had-been-sinking-into-earth/7778631002/ Collapsed Miami condo had been sinking into Earth as early as the 1990s, researchers say A Florida high-rise that collapsed early Thursday was determined to be unstable a year ago, according to a researcher at Florida International University. The building, which was constructed in 1981, has been sinking at an alarming rate since the 1990s, according to a study in 2020 by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment. When Wdowinski saw the news that the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside collapsed, he instantly remembered it from the study, he said. “I looked at it this morning and said, ‘Oh my god.’ We did detect that,” he said.
Native Americans were shocked when European pilgrims landed here and built towns on the beach....no tribe ever set up camp on the beach for practical reasons.....Florida is one giant flood plain...they write about shifting sand for a reason...the beach is a place where real estate definitely can depreciate
It's even Biblical... “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.” ~Matthew 7:24-27
There's a Florida building code that takes this into account. A lot of land has had problems along the coast of Florida with no other collapses. Their building code protects them. I think it's more likely a fault of building inspectors and/or building contractors and maybe even the owner. Do you remember the collapse of the upper sky bridge in Kansas City, Missouri in the new Marriott Hotel? The partner owner's son of the engineering company worked with me in St. Louis. It was an oversight on the part of one of the two owners who did the engineering and who made an error that was not caught by the building inspectors.
