Work at site of collapsed Florida condo building halted over stability concerns
Rescue crews on Thursday morning paused their search for survivors at the scene of the Florida condo collapse amid concerns that the unstable remainder of the building could also crumble, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.
“We’re doing everything that we can to ensure that the safety of our first responders is paramount, and to continue our search and rescue operation as soon as it is safe to do so,” she said during a morning news conference.
Cava said local and state engineers are monitoring the gutted structure and evaluating plans for the ongoing efforts, adding that officials have informed families about the pause.
President Biden, who landed in Miami about 9:30 a.m. Thursday, plans to visit Surfside later in the day, but it was unclear if he will go to the disaster site.
Regardless, Cava said, “I want to stress that President Biden’s presence today will have no impact on what happens at this site.
“The search-and-rescue operation will continue as soon as it is safe to do so. The only reason for this pause is concerns about the standing structure,” she added.
Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said “the stop in operations was based on the subject matter experts and several on-site structural engineers,” adding that three devices monitoring cracks in the building went off.
He said there were concerns about “six to 12 inches of movement and a large column hanging from the structure that could fall and cause damage to the support columns and the south terrain garage area.”
Cominsky added that there was “slight movement in concrete floor slabs on the south side of the structure near the north and south corner of the building that could cause additional failure of the building.”
Earlier Thursday, Florida Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis told CNN that rescue efforts were not halted because of safety concerns.
“No, operations never stop on site. Whether it’s the survey work, anything we can do to make sure the work is still constantly progresses,” he said.
“The building is structurally compromised, it’s not safe, so we take an extraordinary amount of precautions to make sure the site is safe for those working on it, and those trapped in the rubble. We use lasers to make sure we’re monitoring any type of tremors. We take an abundance of caution to make sure all lives are saved,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gov. Ron DeSantis said the Department of Emergency Management was implementing contingency plans for potential impacts from impending bad weather.
“We are not expecting any impacts through Saturday. But obviously, our meteorological team is actively monitoring the storm and will continue to provide updates,” he said.
The governor added that potential tropical storm cyclone 5 became Tropical Storm Elsa overnight — and will continue to sweep through the Caribbean through the weekend.
He said state officials expect Elsa to turn northwest near South Florida by Monday.
The death toll from the tragedy stood at 18, with 145 people still unaccounted for.
