Miami area condo collapse

[bcla]

Here’s a report from someone whose wife was in the building while he was away on a business trip. He claims he was on a phone call with her around the time of the collapse.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article252377493.html​

Early Thursday morning, Mike Stratton awoke to the sound of his cellphone ringing. 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 out her window used to be. Then the line went dead.​

​

“It was 1:30 a.m., I’ll never, never forget that,” he said.​

 

[Kitty 34]

Thanks for the updates BCLA. It's just such a horrible event.

 

[bcla]

Thanks for the updates BCLA. It's just such a horrible event.

I thought that it was pretty enlightening. The video from the surveillance video doesn’t show the pool area, so it could be pretty valuable in determining the cause. But my first thought after reading the article was that the ground possibly collapsed first, then the building went down with it.

I don’t know enough about sinkholes in Florida, but they’re apparently pretty common. Still haven’t heard of a building collapse like this due to a sinkhole.

 

[JimMIA]

I thought that it was pretty enlightening. The video from the surveillance video doesn’t show the pool area, so it could be pretty valuable in determining the cause.

The pool is still there, with no damage. It's plainly visible in several of the pictures posted earlier in this thread.

See Post #14. Some of the other pictures are photoshopped pix with the damage shown on top of a "before" picture. But #14 is legit; you can see lots of fire vehicles on the streets.

 

[AndreaA]

The pool is still there, with no damage. It's plainly visible in several of the pictures posted earlier in this thread.

Could there have been a second, indoor pool? Visible from just a few units? Otherwise I would guess that in the dark the pool just “disappeared” to her eyes while she was panicked and trying to figure out why the building was shaking. Honestly I don’t want to get any more into her mindset...

 

[JimMIA]

Could there have been a second, indoor pool?

No, no indoor pool.

therwise I would guess that in the dark the pool just “disappeared” to her eyes while she was panicked and trying to figure out why the building was shaking.

Exactly. The middle part of the building collapsed first. If she'd looked out then, the dust would have blocked her view of the pool.

Here's some MDFR drone footage of the destruction where you can clearly see the undamaged pool. Click on "Loading."

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local...vastation-of-surfside-condo-collapse/2480959/

 

[Pink Partridge]

No, no indoor pool.Exactly. The middle part of the building collapsed first. If she'd looked out then, the dust would have blocked her view of the pool.

I thought of this. That poor woman must have been disoriented by what occurred pre- collapse.

 

[mousefan73]

Here's a better picture, showing exactly what @kdonnel was talking about above. Note the position of the pool in the various pictures to get a perspective of which direction the picture is taken from. The pool is in the lower left.

This picture is looking NE to SW. The fire and police units on the right are west of the building, on Collins Avenue, and the beach/ocean are out of the picture to the left.

View attachment 584438

It hit me last night how devastating this is and unfortunately those underneath had no chance. In the pic above I had assumed a part of the building fell off where you see the dollhouse rooms on the right. When I saw the video and before and after it hit me that what looks like concrete ground on the bottom left is actually the same size what is still standing but flattened. How horrible. My thoughts are with those who have to extradite.

 

[mousefan73]

I find it interesting how the building was a multi- culture place. Tons of South Americans and Israelis. Read some prominent South Americans. I’m totally unfamiliar with the Miami area but it must’ve been a very popular / nice area where this building was to attract the international Jetset

 

[PollyannaMom]

Have been watching bits on the news. It's so sad.

As was already mentioned above, my first thought was a sinkhole. DH says the photos remind him of the Oklahoma City bombing back in '95.

 

[Kitty 34]

Have been watching bits on the news. It's so sad.

As was already mentioned above, my first thought was a sinkhole. DH says the photos remind him of the Oklahoma City bombing back in '95.

I thought the same thing when seeing the aftermath.

 

[JimMIA]

I find it interesting how the building was a multi- culture place. Tons of South Americans and Israelis. Read some prominent South Americans. I’m totally unfamiliar with the Miami area but it must’ve been a very popular / nice area where this building was to attract the international Jetset

Miami is extraordinarily multi-cultural, and the vast majority of visitors to Miami Beach have no idea what the city is really like. All they see is what MB officials derisively call "The Entertainment District," which is a tiny beach area 3 blocks wide and 10-12 blocks long.

In Miami-Dade County generally, we have large populations from every Caribbean and Central/South American country. In particular, we have huge numbers of people from Cuba (obviously), Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Nicaragua, and Argentina. Roughly 70% of our population are Hispanic.

Miami Beach is not the only area in the county with a large Jewish population, but it is the heart of the Jewish Community. The middle and northern areas of Miami Beach are the home of large synagogues and a very active community. Surfside is a very small town, only about 10 blocks long from the ocean to a waterway called Indian Creek, and it also has a large and very active Jewish population. The beach area is mostly older condos, and the interior is mostly single family homes.

The area of Miami Beach immediately south of Surfside is semi-officially called North Beach, but the local nickname for the area is "Little Argentina" because it has a large Argentinian population. Just to the north of Surfside is Bal Harbour, which is a more exclusive affluent community -- again heavily Jewish. And north of Bal Harbour is Sunny Isles Beach which has a very large Russian population and lots of big hotels and newer condos.

So yeah, Miami is an extremely diverse place.

 

[JimMIA]

As was already mentioned above, my first thought was a sinkhole.

Nope. We very rarely have sinkholes in South Florida. They are more of a Central Florida thing because of the geology of that area.

We do very rarely have a sinkhole occur, but it's almost always on the mainland where you have limestone with water flowing through it -- not in the beach areas. The beaches are all on barrier islands 4 miles or so offshore from the mainland.

There is a lot of information starting to come out about the structural weaknesses in the building that collapsed. The building was going through their 40-year inspection/recertification process, and apparently had some major problems. There are all sorts of silly conspiracy theories floating around, but the building just seems to have been poorly built.

 

[kdonnel]

the building just seems to have been poorly built.

Or poorly maintained.

 

[JaxDad]

Or poorly maintained.

Or both.

Interesting, interactive graphics here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...otos-florida-condo-building-collapse-n1272299

 

[kdonnel]

Or both.

It is always a series of small failures that add up to disaster. The courts then have to assign monetary/criminal blame proportionally.

 

[Skippy918]

Found this article. Poor design and maintenance. Drainage issues.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252385083.html

 

[JimMIA]

No real news this morning, other than the info/speculation on the cause. Still four confirmed dead and still 159 unaccounted for.

Officials are now looking at the sister building located one block north of this building. It was built at the same time, same design, same builder, and is supposedly identical. That doesn't necessarily mean it's unsafe, but I'm sure they will quickly and thoroughly inspect it.

Lots of businesses, religious organizations, etc stepping up to help. And a few celebrities as well. Boy-band singer Joe Jonas apparently showed up unannounced at the reunification site yesterday with lots of pizza and drinks for the families waiting for word of their loved ones. And Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump (who have a condo two blocks north) apparently quietly made a significant donation to the relief effort.

https://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local...tch-in-after-surfside-condo-collapse/2481398/

https://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/celebrities/article252361333.html

 

[PollyannaMom]

We very rarely have sinkholes in South Florida. They are more of a Central Florida thing because of the geology of that area.

We do very rarely have a sinkhole occur, but it's almost always on the mainland where you have limestone with water flowing through it -- not in the beach areas. The beaches are all on barrier islands 4 miles or so offshore from the mainland.

Thank you for the explanation. When sinkholes make our news up here, they tend to make it sound like all of Florida is equally vulnerable.

 

[longboard55]

Looking at the photos I will guess the failure was at the connection of the precast floor planks to the wall.