surfside – Cincy Link

4th person accused of stealing IDs from Surfside victims

cincylink — Sat, 11 Sep 2021 04:18:06 +0000

MIAMI (AP) — Authorities say a fourth person has been accused of stealing the identities of victims in the South Florida condominium collapse that killed 98 people.

Twenty-year-old Nelson Ronaldo Garcia-Medina was arrested on Wednesday.

But his name was not included when the Miami-Dade state attorney announced three arrests in the case.

He's accused of using a stolen identity to buy a pair of $120 Air Jordan sneakers.

He's the brother of 30-year-old Betsy Alejandra Cacho-Medina, who was arrested on Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

Also arrested were 34-year-old Kimberly Michelle Johnson and 38-year-old Rodney Choute, 38.

They each face 15 to 30 years in prison.

Authorities were first notified by a sister of one of the deceased victims on July 9, after she noticed the passwords of the victim's bank accounts and credits cards had been changed, the AP reported.

According to USA Today, the suspects allegedly attempted to steal an additional $67,000.

Ninty-eight people died when a condo in Surfside, Florida, collapsed on June 24.

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Firefighters end rescue mission from Surfside condo tower collapse

cincylink — Sat, 24 Jul 2021 04:07:04 +0000

Firefighters in Surfside, Florida, have ended the recovery mission from the June collapse of a condo tower that killed nearly 100 people.

The conclusion of the mission comes one day ahead of the one-month anniversary of the collapse of Champlain Towers South. Ninety-seven people were killed when the tower spontaneously fell on the morning of June 24.

In a letter to Miami-Dade and Surfside officials, structural engineer Allyn Kilsheimer, who was hired to find out why the building collapsed, said the site might be unsafe due to a perimeter wall near Collins Avenue could fail, the Associated Press reported.

In the letter, Kilsheimer recommended that an earthen berm be built to support the walls because parts of the street could collapse.

According to the Miami Herald, Miami-Dade County officials said crews would be brought in to shore up the remaining underground walls.

Collins Avenue, which has been closed to traffic since June 24, could be reopening soon, the newspaper reported.

The announcement comes a day after Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman said in a hearing that victims and families who suffered losses in the collapse would be initially compensated a minimum of $150 million.

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Community mourns those lost in Florida building collapse as search crews near the bottom of debris

cincylink — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 04:27:48 +0000

Video above: 911 calls released from moments after Surfside building collapsedSearch crews have been nearing the bottom of a pile of rubble left behind after a Surfside condo building collapsed nearly a month ago, according to officials. And as more families get answers, the community is grieving those lost."On the original collapse site, we are almost at the bottom," Miami-Dade Police spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta told CNN last week. "Does that mean we are almost done with the search? No. Until we clear the entire site and find no more human remains we are not done."Part of the Champlain Towers South collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24, as many of the residents slept. Immediately, crews were at the scene sifting through the rubble to search for the victims, pausing only for dangerous weather and when the remains of the building were demolished.The death toll now stands at 97, and 95 of those have been identified.Even after experts declared there was no longer hope of finding survivors, officials promised families the work would not let up until all the remains were recovered.Now that the promise has been fulfilled for most families, the end of the search marks the beginning of a new phase of mourning.In the days after the collapse, Debbie Hill's father was considered missing, and not knowing where he was and what happened to him was "the big issue," she told CNN.Nicole Ortiz said the agony of waiting to learn the fate of her sister and nephew was indescribable."I screamed," she said. "I've almost fainted. I've cried."But now, many families have answers.They are mourning Vishal and Bhavna Patel and their 1-year-old daughter Aishani. Ilan Naibryf's family is saying goodbye to a young man they said made an impact everywhere he went. Sergio Lozano is coping with the loss of both of his parents, Antonio and Gladys."They died together," Lozano said. "It's not fair — being crushed, being destroyed. It's not fair."And for those who survived, it's a matter of picking up the pieces after an almost-miraculous survival.Iliana Monteagudo recalled the moment she saw the cracks running down her walls and the sound of the home she had dreamed of for 40 years crashing around her as she escaped through the stairs."Something inside of me said run," Monteagudo said. "You have to run to save your life."An investigation to beginAs the community mourns, many in the area are also wrestling with fear for the future as they question what caused the collapse and if other buildings in the area are at risk. Last week, a structural engineer hired by the city told CNN that the investigation will not reach its full force until search crews finished their work."Until they do their job, we can't go in to do samples of materials and take those samples and test them to understand what the various components of the building that came down was," Allyn Kilsheimer told CNN.The first night that he was on the scene, Kilsheimer, who also investigated the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, said he had about 20 or 30 theories of possible triggers.Since then, he eliminated some but added five or six more, he said, but won't be able to narrow it down while the search continues.Florida State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has acknowledged "multiple requests by engineers and attorneys" to gain access to the site."Engineers from the federal agency National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) were deployed to Surfside with Congressional authority to gather evidence and determine how and why the Champlain South Tower collapsed. NIST is the fact-finding agency responsible for investigating building collapses such as the World Trade Center, much like the NTSB investigates plane crashes," Rundle said in a statement."It is my understanding that once NIST, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Police Departments determine that it is safe and appropriate for others to gain access to the site, they will be permitted to do so under guidelines set forth by those agencies," Rundle said.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Video above: 911 calls released from moments after Surfside building collapsed

Search crews have been nearing the bottom of a pile of rubble left behind after a Surfside condo building collapsed nearly a month ago, according to officials. And as more families get answers, the community is grieving those lost.

"On the original collapse site, we are almost at the bottom," Miami-Dade Police spokesperson Alvaro Zabaleta told CNN last week. "Does that mean we are almost done with the search? No. Until we clear the entire site and find no more human remains we are not done."

Part of the Champlain Towers South collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24, as many of the residents slept. Immediately, crews were at the scene sifting through the rubble to search for the victims, pausing only for dangerous weather and when the remains of the building were demolished.

The death toll now stands at 97, and 95 of those have been identified.

Even after experts declared there was no longer hope of finding survivors, officials promised families the work would not let up until all the remains were recovered.

Now that the promise has been fulfilled for most families, the end of the search marks the beginning of a new phase of mourning.

In the days after the collapse, Debbie Hill's father was considered missing, and not knowing where he was and what happened to him was "the big issue," she told CNN.

Nicole Ortiz said the agony of waiting to learn the fate of her sister and nephew was indescribable.

"I screamed," she said. "I've almost fainted. I've cried."

But now, many families have answers.

They are mourning Vishal and Bhavna Patel and their 1-year-old daughter Aishani. Ilan Naibryf's family is saying goodbye to a young man they said made an impact everywhere he went. Sergio Lozano is coping with the loss of both of his parents, Antonio and Gladys.

"They died together," Lozano said. "It's not fair — being crushed, being destroyed. It's not fair."

And for those who survived, it's a matter of picking up the pieces after an almost-miraculous survival.

Iliana Monteagudo recalled the moment she saw the cracks running down her walls and the sound of the home she had dreamed of for 40 years crashing around her as she escaped through the stairs.

"Something inside of me said run," Monteagudo said. "You have to run to save your life."

An investigation to begin

As the community mourns, many in the area are also wrestling with fear for the future as they question what caused the collapse and if other buildings in the area are at risk.

Last week, a structural engineer hired by the city told CNN that the investigation will not reach its full force until search crews finished their work.

"Until they do their job, we can't go in to do samples of materials and take those samples and test them to understand what the various components of the building that came down was," Allyn Kilsheimer told CNN.

The first night that he was on the scene, Kilsheimer, who also investigated the aftermath of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon, said he had about 20 or 30 theories of possible triggers.

Since then, he eliminated some but added five or six more, he said, but won't be able to narrow it down while the search continues.

Florida State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has acknowledged "multiple requests by engineers and attorneys" to gain access to the site.

"Engineers from the federal agency National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) were deployed to Surfside with Congressional authority to gather evidence and determine how and why the Champlain South Tower collapsed. NIST is the fact-finding agency responsible for investigating building collapses such as the World Trade Center, much like the NTSB investigates plane crashes," Rundle said in a statement.

"It is my understanding that once NIST, the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue and Miami-Dade Police Departments determine that it is safe and appropriate for others to gain access to the site, they will be permitted to do so under guidelines set forth by those agencies," Rundle said.

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Decades before Surfside, a hotel collapse killed 114 people in Missouri. What have we learned?

cincylink — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 04:28:05 +0000

Video above: Doctor reflects on Hyatt Skywalk collapse 40 years laterOn a balmy Missouri evening in 1981, this was one of the hottest places to be.More than 1,500 revelers had gathered on the first floor of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency for a popular tea dance party hosted by the swanky 1-year-old hotel.As musicians performed big band hits, couples swing-danced under long, novel skywalks spanning the second and fourth floors that seemed to float in the sky, historians have recalled.Then, as the orchestra was said to be playing Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll," the fourth-floor skywalk collapsed onto the second-floor skywalk directly beneath it. Both walkways then crashed onto the ground floor, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others.The catastrophe on July 17, 1981, is one of the deadliest structural collapses in U.S. history. That same year, the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, was completed — only to meet a similar, disastrous fate this June, when it partially collapsed killing at least 97 people.Forty years after the Kansas City disaster, the memories are still vivid. And the lessons learned from it are as relevant as ever — not just for engineers and architects but for everyone, several people close to the tragedy told CNN.Here's what they want Americans to remember:Don't rush to judgment, and don't ignore the detailsBill Quatman was a 23-year-old architect just starting his career in Kansas City. He wasn't involved in the design of the skywalks, but he marveled at the way they seemed to float in the air — an unusual sight at the time, he said.He and his wife had dined at the hotel a week before the collapse and had noticed another spectacle:"A few thousand people were enjoying themselves at a tea dance, listening to big band music from an orchestra, dancing and laughing to tunes of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington," Quatman said."We saw this tea dance going on (and thought), 'That looks like fun; we should come back sometime.'"But on the evening of July 17, they had other plans. That night — after the skywalks fell — a friend told Quatman about the tragedy but mistakenly said the hotel's roof had fallen in."The first 48 hours, nobody really knew the cause, but there was speculation — just like there is today with the Surfside condos," Quatman said. "All sorts of theories floating around, and nobody knows ... I think one of the similarities is the rush to judgment."Video below: Hyatt survivor says collapse forever changed him, changed Kansas CityThe cause of the Surfside collapse is still under investigation.One popular myth following the Kansas City disaster was that the song playing at the time of the collapse — Ellington's "Satin Doll" — somehow contributed to the skywalks falling, he said.The theory was "harmonic vibrations from the band music caused the steel to oscillate," Quatman said. But experts and courts later determined there were fatal engineering design errors.The original design had called for the second-floor and fourth-floor skywalks to both be supported with a set of steel hanger rods connected to the ceiling. But a design change was made over the phone between the steel fabricator and the structural engineer, Quatman said."They hung the second-floor bridge from the fourth-floor bridge and doubled the load on that connection, which was ultimately a fatal design change," he said.The resulting design was "capable of withstanding only an estimated 30 percent of the mandated minimum," according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. A series of miscommunications and failures to double-check calculations and plans led to the collapse. In the decades since, Quatman has spent much of his career as both an architect and lawyer speaking to engineering and architecture students to help prevent such catastrophic mistakes in the future."I always end my talks by saying you cannot ignore the small details," Quatman said. "The (connection) that failed was about 8 inches wide."Don't take the 'simple things' for grantedBrent Wright was just 17 years old when he lost his mother and stepfather. Since then, every anniversary of the collapse has been challenging."Even though it's been 40 years, those memories come flooding back," said Wright, now 57. "It's emotional. All these years later, I still miss my mother and stepfather."Karen and Gene Jeter had gotten married just 16 days before the skywalks collapsed. The newlyweds spent their final moments doing what Karen loved — dancing.It was a skill she insisted her son learn — for the sake of his future dating life."When I was growing up, my mom said, 'Look, you need to learn how to dance. All the girls will love it if you actually know how to dance.' So she taught me how to dance," Wright said.Footage of the Hyatt Regency's dance party showed his mother and stepfather having a glorious time, Wright said. The event was so popular, his father and future stepmother were also there.But Wright didn't know that — or about the tragedy that would change his life — until the following day. On the night of the collapse, he was working the loading dock at a Macy's store to earn money for college."I had the radio turned on on the dock and heard something come over the radio about some accident. It wasn't clear what the details were," Wright recalled."I called my mom because I was going to ask her about it. Nobody answered."Wright, who lived with his father at the time, came home that night and went right back to work early the next morning. Then his dad called him and told him to come home immediately."My dad just looked at us and said, 'I don't know any way to tell you this, but your mom and Gene were killed at the Hyatt collapse,'" Wright said. "It was absolutely awful."The Jeters never got to see Wright and his younger sister Shelly become adults and have children of their own."They've missed so many things through the years," Wright said. "They missed me going to college, graduating from college, graduating from law school, getting married, having children. All those things, all those milestones in our lives. It's difficult, even 40 years later."Over the years, he's learned to cope with grief — a process he knows families of the Surfside victims are just beginning."You try not to forget the past but also try not to let all the grief or the difficulties from the past hold you back from going forward," he said. "I know my mom wanted that. She would have said, 'Go ahead and live your life and be happy. But don't forget me.' So we don't."To ensure his mother, stepfather and 112 other victims are never forgotten, Wright became president of the Skywalk Memorial Foundation. It led efforts to create the Skywalk Memorial, which features a modern design evoking two people dancing, along with the names of those lost. It also honors the hundreds injured and the rescuers."Even all these years later, none of (the rescuers) have ever been able to forget what they saw, what they did, which was selfless," Wright said.This anniversary, Wright is also remembering the dozens of lives lost in the collapse at the Surfside condo building."All those people in Florida, my heart breaks for them. I want them to know that there are people everywhere who are thinking about them, praying for them," he said."I hope that they get help from mental health professionals because it's not something you can do on your own."And there's a lesson everyone can take away from such tragedies."We all have to remember not to take those day-to-day, simple things (like) family for granted. You just don't know when you may never have another chance to see them again," he said."It's a good reminder, and it's something I've tried to do as I live my life is to try not to take those things for granted."The mental health needs of first responders are crucialVince Ortega, then 26, was the first Kansas City police officer dispatched to the scene.On the police radio, "The way it came out was (an) elderly lady had fallen off the escalator," said Ortega, now 66.More calls quickly followed, but nothing prepared him for what he saw when he arrived at the hotel."People were running out, bleeding from the head," he said."When I went in, I saw a dead body right away. The rubble had flattened the body out. I could tell it was a woman because she had a dress on."Ortega had no idea what had collapsed. So fearing another imminent collapse, he tried to rush as many injured survivors as he could outside to safety."You're just helpless because you're bringing out just a few at a time, and there's a whole lobby full of people," he said."Then water started coming out of the walls."The collapse of the skywalks broke the sprinkler system, flooding the floor with several inches of water, Ortega said.No amount of academy training can fully prepare a first responder for such a mass tragedy, he said."There was this one gentleman who was underneath the rubble ... 'I need help! I need help!' And he had his arm sticking out from the rubble," Ortega said."So my (officer) friend grabbed his hand and started to pull him out, and his arm just came off. And my friend just dropped it and walked out the door. He actually never came back -- he never returned to the police department."Such overwhelming trauma highlights the need for first responders to have adequate mental health support, Ortega said."Back then they didn't really offer the mental health assistance" needed, he said.That changed after other officers who had responded to the collapse started leaving the force."They did it after people started not showing up for work. And they figured out nobody wanted to admit they got affected by it."Ortega said he's lucky to come from a family of first responders — including two firefighter brothers and a nurse mother — who helped him cope with the trauma.But some emergency workers can be haunted by feelings of inadequacy despite their most valiant efforts."You always wish you could have done a little more," Ortega said.He now thinks about the first responders in Surfside, who have been digging through tons of rubble for weeks trying to find those still missing from the condo collapse. Digging through the wreckage, one Florida rescuer said, has also meant "emotionally digging for more strength to continue."Ortega hopes the Surfside teams can benefit from the lessons learned 40 years ago in Kansas City."Once it's done, please seek counseling," Ortega said. "Over the years, I've seen people leave the job with mental health issues because of the overwhelming tragedy that they see over time.""Everybody is vulnerable," he said. "I was just fortunate."

Video above: Doctor reflects on Hyatt Skywalk collapse 40 years later

On a balmy Missouri evening in 1981, this was one of the hottest places to be.

More than 1,500 revelers had gathered on the first floor of the Kansas City Hyatt Regency for a popular tea dance party hosted by the swanky 1-year-old hotel.

As musicians performed big band hits, couples swing-danced under long, novel skywalks spanning the second and fourth floors that seemed to float in the sky, historians have recalled.

Then, as the orchestra was said to be playing Duke Ellington's "Satin Doll," the fourth-floor skywalk collapsed onto the second-floor skywalk directly beneath it. Both walkways then crashed onto the ground floor, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200 others.

The catastrophe on July 17, 1981, is one of the deadliest structural collapses in U.S. history. That same year, the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, was completed — only to meet a similar, disastrous fate this June, when it partially collapsed killing at least 97 people.

Forty years after the Kansas City disaster, the memories are still vivid. And the lessons learned from it are as relevant as ever — not just for engineers and architects but for everyone, several people close to the tragedy told CNN.

Here's what they want Americans to remember:

Don't rush to judgment, and don't ignore the details

Bill Quatman was a 23-year-old architect just starting his career in Kansas City. He wasn't involved in the design of the skywalks, but he marveled at the way they seemed to float in the air — an unusual sight at the time, he said.

He and his wife had dined at the hotel a week before the collapse and had noticed another spectacle:

"A few thousand people were enjoying themselves at a tea dance, listening to big band music from an orchestra, dancing and laughing to tunes of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington," Quatman said.

"We saw this tea dance going on (and thought), 'That looks like fun; we should come back sometime.'"

But on the evening of July 17, they had other plans. That night — after the skywalks fell — a friend told Quatman about the tragedy but mistakenly said the hotel's roof had fallen in.

"The first 48 hours, nobody really knew the cause, but there was speculation — just like there is today with the Surfside condos," Quatman said. "All sorts of theories floating around, and nobody knows ... I think one of the similarities is the rush to judgment."

Video below: Hyatt survivor says collapse forever changed him, changed Kansas City

The cause of the Surfside collapse is still under investigation.

One popular myth following the Kansas City disaster was that the song playing at the time of the collapse — Ellington's "Satin Doll" — somehow contributed to the skywalks falling, he said.

The theory was "harmonic vibrations from the band music caused the steel to oscillate," Quatman said. But experts and courts later determined there were fatal engineering design errors.

The original design had called for the second-floor and fourth-floor skywalks to both be supported with a set of steel hanger rods connected to the ceiling. But a design change was made over the phone between the steel fabricator and the structural engineer, Quatman said.

"They hung the second-floor bridge from the fourth-floor bridge and doubled the load on that connection, which was ultimately a fatal design change," he said.

The resulting design was "capable of withstanding only an estimated 30 percent of the mandated minimum," according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. A series of miscommunications and failures to double-check calculations and plans led to the collapse.

In the decades since, Quatman has spent much of his career as both an architect and lawyer speaking to engineering and architecture students to help prevent such catastrophic mistakes in the future.

"I always end my talks by saying you cannot ignore the small details," Quatman said. "The (connection) that failed was about 8 inches wide."

Don't take the 'simple things' for granted

Brent Wright was just 17 years old when he lost his mother and stepfather. Since then, every anniversary of the collapse has been challenging.

"Even though it's been 40 years, those memories come flooding back," said Wright, now 57. "It's emotional. All these years later, I still miss my mother and stepfather."

Karen and Gene Jeter had gotten married just 16 days before the skywalks collapsed. The newlyweds spent their final moments doing what Karen loved — dancing.

It was a skill she insisted her son learn — for the sake of his future dating life.

"When I was growing up, my mom said, 'Look, you need to learn how to dance. All the girls will love it if you actually know how to dance.' So she taught me how to dance," Wright said.

Footage of the Hyatt Regency's dance party showed his mother and stepfather having a glorious time, Wright said. The event was so popular, his father and future stepmother were also there.

But Wright didn't know that — or about the tragedy that would change his life — until the following day. On the night of the collapse, he was working the loading dock at a Macy's store to earn money for college.

"I had the radio turned on on the dock and heard something come over the radio about some accident. It wasn't clear what the details were," Wright recalled.

"I called my mom because I was going to ask her about it. Nobody answered."

Wright, who lived with his father at the time, came home that night and went right back to work early the next morning. Then his dad called him and told him to come home immediately.

"My dad just looked at us and said, 'I don't know any way to tell you this, but your mom and Gene were killed at the Hyatt collapse,'" Wright said. "It was absolutely awful."

The Jeters never got to see Wright and his younger sister Shelly become adults and have children of their own.

"They've missed so many things through the years," Wright said. "They missed me going to college, graduating from college, graduating from law school, getting married, having children. All those things, all those milestones in our lives. It's difficult, even 40 years later."

Over the years, he's learned to cope with grief — a process he knows families of the Surfside victims are just beginning.

"You try not to forget the past but also try not to let all the grief or the difficulties from the past hold you back from going forward," he said. "I know my mom wanted that. She would have said, 'Go ahead and live your life and be happy. But don't forget me.' So we don't."

To ensure his mother, stepfather and 112 other victims are never forgotten, Wright became president of the Skywalk Memorial Foundation. It led efforts to create the Skywalk Memorial, which features a modern design evoking two people dancing, along with the names of those lost. It also honors the hundreds injured and the rescuers.

"Even all these years later, none of (the rescuers) have ever been able to forget what they saw, what they did, which was selfless," Wright said.

This anniversary, Wright is also remembering the dozens of lives lost in the collapse at the Surfside condo building.

"All those people in Florida, my heart breaks for them. I want them to know that there are people everywhere who are thinking about them, praying for them," he said.

"I hope that they get help from mental health professionals because it's not something you can do on your own."

And there's a lesson everyone can take away from such tragedies.

"We all have to remember not to take those day-to-day, simple things (like) family for granted. You just don't know when you may never have another chance to see them again," he said.

"It's a good reminder, and it's something I've tried to do as I live my life is to try not to take those things for granted."

The mental health needs of first responders are crucial

Vince Ortega, then 26, was the first Kansas City police officer dispatched to the scene.

On the police radio, "The way it came out was (an) elderly lady had fallen off the escalator," said Ortega, now 66.

More calls quickly followed, but nothing prepared him for what he saw when he arrived at the hotel.

"People were running out, bleeding from the head," he said.

"When I went in, I saw a dead body right away. The rubble had flattened the body out. I could tell it was a woman because she had a dress on."

Ortega had no idea what had collapsed. So fearing another imminent collapse, he tried to rush as many injured survivors as he could outside to safety.

"You're just helpless because you're bringing out just a few at a time, and there's a whole lobby full of people," he said.

"Then water started coming out of the walls."

The collapse of the skywalks broke the sprinkler system, flooding the floor with several inches of water, Ortega said.

No amount of academy training can fully prepare a first responder for such a mass tragedy, he said.

"There was this one gentleman who was underneath the rubble ... 'I need help! I need help!' And he had his arm sticking out from the rubble," Ortega said.

"So my (officer) friend grabbed his hand and started to pull him out, and his arm just came off. And my friend just dropped it and walked out the door. He actually never came back -- he never returned to the police department."

Such overwhelming trauma highlights the need for first responders to have adequate mental health support, Ortega said.

"Back then they didn't really offer the mental health assistance" needed, he said.

That changed after other officers who had responded to the collapse started leaving the force.

"They did it after people started not showing up for work. And they figured out nobody wanted to admit they got affected by it."

Ortega said he's lucky to come from a family of first responders — including two firefighter brothers and a nurse mother — who helped him cope with the trauma.

But some emergency workers can be haunted by feelings of inadequacy despite their most valiant efforts.

"You always wish you could have done a little more," Ortega said.

He now thinks about the first responders in Surfside, who have been digging through tons of rubble for weeks trying to find those still missing from the condo collapse. Digging through the wreckage, one Florida rescuer said, has also meant "emotionally digging for more strength to continue."

Ortega hopes the Surfside teams can benefit from the lessons learned 40 years ago in Kansas City.

"Once it's done, please seek counseling," Ortega said. "Over the years, I've seen people leave the job with mental health issues because of the overwhelming tragedy that they see over time."

"Everybody is vulnerable," he said. "I was just fortunate."

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UC College of Medicine alum identified as victim of Surfside building collapse

cincylink — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 04:07:09 +0000

A University of Cincinnati College of Medicine alum has been identified as one of the victims of the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida.Miami-Dade police confirmed in a tweet Friday that the body of Dr. Brad Cohen had been recovered on July 7. Cohen was an orthopedic surgeon in North Miami and Miami Beach. He graduated from UC in 1997.The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine reacted to the news on Twitter."We mourn his lost {sic} and offer our sincerest condolences to his family." Cohen's brother, Gary, was also killed in the collapse. Gary was visiting Brad from out of town when the incident took place.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

A University of Cincinnati College of Medicine alum has been identified as one of the victims of the condo collapse in Surfside, Florida.

Miami-Dade police confirmed in a tweet Friday that the body of Dr. Brad Cohen had been recovered on July 7.

Cohen was an orthopedic surgeon in North Miami and Miami Beach. He graduated from UC in 1997.

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine reacted to the news on Twitter.

"We mourn his lost {sic} and offer our sincerest condolences to his family."

Cohen's brother, Gary, was also killed in the collapse. Gary was visiting Brad from out of town when the incident took place.

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Mental health support in place for OH-TF1 members involved in Surfside search

cincylink — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 04:29:34 +0000

Ohio Task Force 1 has started their long journey home, following a mission at the site of the deadly condo collapse in Surfside, Florida. The crew of 82 members is expected back home Thursday after spending nearly two weeks at the site of the collapse, sifting through debris and recovering victims.In order to address the traumatic toll the recovery effort will have on crews, Ohio Task Force 1 has made and is making mental health resources available."This level of tragedy is not something that we see very often. I think many people have made comparisons to 911," said Dr. Daniel Bachmann, an emergency physician at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who deployed as the task force's medical team manager. "Probably the best support was just amongst our own team... We have a lot of people who are experienced in dealing with tragic situations."Throughout the trip, professional help was available through groups like the International Association of Fire Fighters, who had crews at the site of the collapse to meet with search and rescue crews following any traumatic event. "It was emotionally draining work. It was physically demanding work. And for those reasons, I think a lot of us have not even caught up with everything that has happened," Bachmann said. "That's why it's important that we have these ongoing resources not just at the scene, not just as we demobilize but really going forward for days, weeks, months, maybe even years."Team members were briefed on mental health during the stint in Florida and were required to "stand down" for 24 hours before starting the trip home, allowing crews a chance to decompress, talk about what they experienced and seek help if needed. Bachmann said there will be follow-up for each team member, especially due to the likelihood of developing PTSD. "I think the risk that I am most concerned about is that we will lose team members because of the impact of what we've done," he said. "It would be a great loss if we did lose team members, and that's why we want to support them."Letters were sent out Tuesday to each of the families of crew members, offering resources and concerning signs to be aware of in loved ones like difficulty sleeping or irritability.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

In order to address the traumatic toll the recovery effort will have on crews, Ohio Task Force 1 has made and is making mental health resources available.

"This level of tragedy is not something that we see very often. I think many people have made comparisons to 911," said Dr. Daniel Bachmann, an emergency physician at Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center who deployed as the task force's medical team manager. "Probably the best support was just amongst our own team... We have a lot of people who are experienced in dealing with tragic situations."

Throughout the trip, professional help was available through groups like the International Association of Fire Fighters, who had crews at the site of the collapse to meet with search and rescue crews following any traumatic event.

"It was emotionally draining work. It was physically demanding work. And for those reasons, I think a lot of us have not even caught up with everything that has happened," Bachmann said. "That's why it's important that we have these ongoing resources not just at the scene, not just as we demobilize but really going forward for days, weeks, months, maybe even years."

Team members were briefed on mental health during the stint in Florida and were required to "stand down" for 24 hours before starting the trip home, allowing crews a chance to decompress, talk about what they experienced and seek help if needed.

Bachmann said there will be follow-up for each team member, especially due to the likelihood of developing PTSD.

"I think the risk that I am most concerned about is that we will lose team members because of the impact of what we've done," he said. "It would be a great loss if we did lose team members, and that's why we want to support them."

Letters were sent out Tuesday to each of the families of crew members, offering resources and concerning signs to be aware of in loved ones like difficulty sleeping or irritability.

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Death toll climbs to 97 in Florida condo collapse

cincylink — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 04:07:15 +0000

Exhausted crews neared the end of their search for victims of a Miami-area condominium tower collapse Wednesday as the death toll reached 97 with just a handful of people still unaccounted for.Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference that the number of people considered missing has dwindled as authorities work to identify everyone connected to the building."It’s a scientific, methodical process to identify human remains. As we’ve said, this work is becoming more difficult with the passage of time,” Levine Cava said Tuesday, adding that it is "truly a fluid situation." Twenty days after the disaster, Levine Cava said crews had removed 18 million pounds of rubble from the site. Search crews were taking great care to identify and preserve any personal property recovered, the mayor added."They have given of their heart and soul," Levine Cava said of the crews that have worked around the clock for nearly three weeks. "We are totally walking among superheroes."It will take much longer for experts to figure out what caused the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium to fall into a tangled heap of concrete and steel on June 24. The building was set for its four-decade recertification review when it collapsed.Engineers and others investigating the cause of the collapse have been identifying key pieces of the 40-year-old building to determine what happened, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said.“We're looking at how the building lines up with what the plans say,” he said.The search for answers includes an engineer hired by the town of Surfside, a team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, experts hired by lawyers representing families and others.Part of the investigation will include what decisions were made by government building officials and the condominium board, which knew of serious structural problems with the tower as early as fall 2018. Some residents were reluctant to pay assessments in the tens of thousands of dollars for the repairs, leading to acrimonious board meetings. There is also concern about the stability of Champlain Towers North, a nearly identical building next door built at the same time and by the same developer as its doomed sister structure. So far, no mandatory evacuation order has been given for that building."If there were a need to make any changes, they would," Levine Cava said of the north tower.Discussions continue about what to do with the collapse site with families of the victims, Burkett said. Some residents who escaped the disaster want the tower rebuilt so they can move back in. Others want some kind of memorial site."We want the families to tell us what they want to see,” Burkett said. "I'm looking forward to having those discussions."

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Exhausted crews neared the end of their search for victims of a Miami-area condominium tower collapse Wednesday as the death toll reached 97 with just a handful of people still unaccounted for.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a news conference that the number of people considered missing has dwindled as authorities work to identify everyone connected to the building.

"It’s a scientific, methodical process to identify human remains. As we’ve said, this work is becoming more difficult with the passage of time,” Levine Cava said Tuesday, adding that it is "truly a fluid situation."

Twenty days after the disaster, Levine Cava said crews had removed 18 million pounds of rubble from the site. Search crews were taking great care to identify and preserve any personal property recovered, the mayor added.

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"They have given of their heart and soul," Levine Cava said of the crews that have worked around the clock for nearly three weeks. "We are totally walking among superheroes."

It will take much longer for experts to figure out what caused the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium to fall into a tangled heap of concrete and steel on June 24. The building was set for its four-decade recertification review when it collapsed.

Engineers and others investigating the cause of the collapse have been identifying key pieces of the 40-year-old building to determine what happened, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said.

“We're looking at how the building lines up with what the plans say,” he said.

The search for answers includes an engineer hired by the town of Surfside, a team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, experts hired by lawyers representing families and others.

Part of the investigation will include what decisions were made by government building officials and the condominium board, which knew of serious structural problems with the tower as early as fall 2018. Some residents were reluctant to pay assessments in the tens of thousands of dollars for the repairs, leading to acrimonious board meetings.

There is also concern about the stability of Champlain Towers North, a nearly identical building next door built at the same time and by the same developer as its doomed sister structure. So far, no mandatory evacuation order has been given for that building.

"If there were a need to make any changes, they would," Levine Cava said of the north tower.

Discussions continue about what to do with the collapse site with families of the victims, Burkett said. Some residents who escaped the disaster want the tower rebuilt so they can move back in. Others want some kind of memorial site.

"We want the families to tell us what they want to see,” Burkett said. "I'm looking forward to having those discussions."

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‘I’m also emotionally digging for more strength’

cincylink — Tue, 13 Jul 2021 04:28:45 +0000

Video above: Death toll in building collapse now at 90, officials sayBaby pictures. Toys. Photo albums. Passports. These are just a few of the items found by the search teams at the site of the collapsed Surfside, Florida, condo building that drove home the immensity of what they were doing, one crew member said.The crews at the site work 12-hour shifts, many sleeping in tents nearby instead of going home. The effort has paused only briefly -- for lightning and the demolition of what had remained standing of the complex -- since the building pancaked in the early hours of June 24. And while the physical work in the South Florida heat can be grueling, the mental toll can be just as great."I feel like I'm physically digging, but I'm also emotionally digging for more strength to continue," Chief Nichole Notte of the Florida Task Force 2 told CNN.And then the enormity of the task pushes her on."I bring back into mind the families and friends that want some closure, and are just desperately waiting for any information. And that gives me the strength and motivation to keep digging," Notte said.Notte has been at the site since 45 minutes after the collapse, with just one brief respite at home.There are several times every day when scale of the tragedy hits her."Some of them are sparked by the things that I find out there. If I find a baby pictures," Notte said. "I think the first time it really hit me was when I found a passport with a baby in it. And then I found the entire family of passports in there as well. Those are the moments that I take a deep breath and kind of, I'm very in my head, in that moment."The hardest day, Notte said, was finding the body of the daughter of a Miami firefighter, 7-year-old Stella Cattarossi."Everything shut down when we found her," Notte said. "We all lined up. And you could hear a pin drop on a construction site, which is just eerie, and amazing and beautiful all in one.""I have visions of them carrying her down the line of firefighters and first responders, and everyone just so intently, seeing reality," the chief said."It's always harder when it's personal. And that was very personal for us."Notte is a veteran of this kind of work, with years spent at the Broward County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Task Force II.She was featured, along with her search and rescue dog named Dig, on the Broward County Sheriff's Office Facebook page on June 27."Battalion Chief Notte will rest, sometimes cry, shore up her strength, and she and Dig will return to work, searching for signs of life," the office wrote.This deployment has been different from other assignments, Notte said, for one heartbreaking reason."I don't think there's been one deployment that we haven't saved somebody," she said. "That's been really hard for us. I mean, we would love to even just say, like, we saved somebody's dog, I mean anything.""And it's just been so challenging to not hear somebody say, 'Hey, thanks a lot for helping me out of that.' Not that we need thanks -- that's not what I meant by that -- but to shake the hand of a victim would be nice."Officials said Sunday that 90 deaths are confirmed. Last week, the effort turned from a search and rescue operation to a search and recovery effort, meaning there was no longer hope of finding survivors.Everyone working at the site has moments when they need emotional support to deal with the task, Notte said."The way that each person gets it might be different, it will look differently," Notte said. "Sometimes it's different for me, sometimes I just want to hug. Sometimes I just want to scream. Sometimes I want to cry. And I've gone through all those, I probably go through all those each day that I'm here."But, she said, the team members have one another."I feel so honored and privileged to be a part of the scene of such a group, such a hard-working group, and we can also rely on each other like a family relies on each other," she said.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Video above: Death toll in building collapse now at 90, officials say

Baby pictures. Toys. Photo albums. Passports. These are just a few of the items found by the search teams at the site of the collapsed Surfside, Florida, condo building that drove home the immensity of what they were doing, one crew member said.

The crews at the site work 12-hour shifts, many sleeping in tents nearby instead of going home. The effort has paused only briefly -- for lightning and the demolition of what had remained standing of the complex -- since the building pancaked in the early hours of June 24.

And while the physical work in the South Florida heat can be grueling, the mental toll can be just as great.

"I feel like I'm physically digging, but I'm also emotionally digging for more strength to continue," Chief Nichole Notte of the Florida Task Force 2 told CNN.

And then the enormity of the task pushes her on.

"I bring back into mind the families and friends that want some closure, and are just desperately waiting for any information. And that gives me the strength and motivation to keep digging," Notte said.

Notte has been at the site since 45 minutes after the collapse, with just one brief respite at home.

There are several times every day when scale of the tragedy hits her.

"Some of them are sparked by the things that I find out there. If I find a baby pictures," Notte said. "I think the first time it really hit me was when I found a passport with a baby in it. And then I found the entire family of passports in there as well. Those are the moments that I take a deep breath and kind of, I'm very in my head, in that moment."

The hardest day, Notte said, was finding the body of the daughter of a Miami firefighter, 7-year-old Stella Cattarossi.

"Everything shut down when we found her," Notte said. "We all lined up. And you could hear a pin drop on a construction site, which is just eerie, and amazing and beautiful all in one."

"I have visions of them carrying her down the line of firefighters and first responders, and everyone just so intently, seeing reality," the chief said.

"It's always harder when it's personal. And that was very personal for us."

Notte is a veteran of this kind of work, with years spent at the Broward County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Task Force II.

She was featured, along with her search and rescue dog named Dig, on the Broward County Sheriff's Office Facebook page on June 27.

"Battalion Chief Notte will rest, sometimes cry, shore up her strength, and she and Dig will return to work, searching for signs of life," the office wrote.

This deployment has been different from other assignments, Notte said, for one heartbreaking reason.

"I don't think there's been one deployment that we haven't saved somebody," she said. "That's been really hard for us. I mean, we would love to even just say, like, we saved somebody's dog, I mean anything."

"And it's just been so challenging to not hear somebody say, 'Hey, thanks a lot for helping me out of that.' Not that we need thanks -- that's not what I meant by that -- but to shake the hand of a victim would be nice."

Officials said Sunday that 90 deaths are confirmed. Last week, the effort turned from a search and rescue operation to a search and recovery effort, meaning there was no longer hope of finding survivors.

Everyone working at the site has moments when they need emotional support to deal with the task, Notte said.

"The way that each person gets it might be different, it will look differently," Notte said. "Sometimes it's different for me, sometimes I just want to hug. Sometimes I just want to scream. Sometimes I want to cry. And I've gone through all those, I probably go through all those each day that I'm here."

But, she said, the team members have one another.

"I feel so honored and privileged to be a part of the scene of such a group, such a hard-working group, and we can also rely on each other like a family relies on each other," she said.

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Families of condo victims bond together as they await news

cincylink — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 04:18:47 +0000

Video above: Vigil held for Florida building collapse victimsAt the Seaview Hotel in Surfside, a vast and once impersonal ballroom has become a refuge — a shared space of hope and sorrow where grieving families comfort each other during the agonizing wait for news of relatives trapped inside a collapsed condo building.Twice a day, every day, for more than two weeks, relatives of the 79 who perished and 61 still missing have huddled in the spacious room, a new daily routine thrust upon them by an unfathomable disaster.Many members of this tiny community forged in the tragedy have started arriving to the meetings early and staying late. They linger in small groups, talking. They hug each other, bring each other water and tissues. On days when information is scarce, rescuers, including those from other countries, circulate through the room, offering more detailed tidbits.Officials announced on Wednesday that they were switching their mission from rescue to recovery, but there is no plan to stop the private briefings for the families, said Maggie Castro, a Miami-Dade firefighter and paramedic who keeps relatives updated and has forged her own connections with them."Obviously, this is a huge tragedy, but if I can find some kind of bright spot in this whole thing, it's to be with these families, watching their emotions come and go and ... watching them evolve through their stages and then also watching them bond," Castro said.Soriya Cohen's husband, Brad Cohen, is still missing. Her brother-in-law Gary Cohen was found Thursday, and her two children are begging rescuers to search a similar grid line to find their father."The community outpours so much love," she said, recalling how volunteers wrapped her in a blanket, brought her food and coffee in the initial days after the collapse and "surrounded me with so much emotional support."She still has the blanket, she said in a text Friday.Rachel Spiegel, whose mother, Judy, is still missing, said she, her father and brother also have made connections with other families inside the room, but she stopped short of calling it comforting."I don't know if I would define it as comfort yet because we still don't know where my mom is," she said. "She's still missing."While sobs could be heard in the background Wednesday night as officials announced they would shift from rescue to recovery, largely dashing any hope of survivors, some families said they won't feel different until they have final word on their loved ones."It's hard to digest," Spiegel said in a phone call. "Many people did say they feel the shift. For us, we just want to find my mom and be reunited with her. We're still hoping for the best. We're going to have this shift once we find her and are reunited with her."The Cohen family said not having any updates about Brad Cohen was agonizing."I don't think the terminology of rescue versus recovery matters. It's semantics," said Soriya Cohen. "They will find people in whatever state they are in, however it's termed."Other families told rescuers they did feel a sense of finality once workers started searching for victims instead of survivors."There has been a sort of shift I think toward acceptance but also obviously with that comes some sadness," said Castro, adding that the families are physically and emotionally exhausted. "It's a lot, a lot of emotional roller coasters that they've been on, just trying to stay positive and hold out the wait," she said.The family briefings are surrounded by heavy security, with various checkpoints to protect their privacy.Organizations set up at a line of tables in the room offer everything from free international phone calls and counseling to clothing and housing. Several snowbirds are offering their Surfside homes to displaced survivors, said Rabbi Yakov Saacks, a family friend who flew from New York to comfort the Cohens. The owner of a 16-unit building opened it up rent-free to Surfside survivors for the month of July.Huge platters of catered food sit day and night, including glatt kosher meals, all donated by community members longing to ease the pain.Meanwhile, Support Surfside has raised $2 million for victims with another $2 million pledged, and GoFundMe has separately raised $1.7 million for various families.The nearby Shul has been transformed into a huge clothing and dry goods facility for families to pick up items while they wait.Saacks described the ballroom as painfully quiet at times."While families were either sitting or standing together, they were, for the most part, just silently and painfully waiting for news," he said. "While some families would welcome any news at that stage, others would welcome only good news."

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. —

Video above: Vigil held for Florida building collapse victims

At the Seaview Hotel in Surfside, a vast and once impersonal ballroom has become a refuge — a shared space of hope and sorrow where grieving families comfort each other during the agonizing wait for news of relatives trapped inside a collapsed condo building.

Twice a day, every day, for more than two weeks, relatives of the 79 who perished and 61 still missing have huddled in the spacious room, a new daily routine thrust upon them by an unfathomable disaster.

Many members of this tiny community forged in the tragedy have started arriving to the meetings early and staying late. They linger in small groups, talking. They hug each other, bring each other water and tissues. On days when information is scarce, rescuers, including those from other countries, circulate through the room, offering more detailed tidbits.

Officials announced on Wednesday that they were switching their mission from rescue to recovery, but there is no plan to stop the private briefings for the families, said Maggie Castro, a Miami-Dade firefighter and paramedic who keeps relatives updated and has forged her own connections with them.

"Obviously, this is a huge tragedy, but if I can find some kind of bright spot in this whole thing, it's to be with these families, watching their emotions come and go and ... watching them evolve through their stages and then also watching them bond," Castro said.

Soriya Cohen's husband, Brad Cohen, is still missing. Her brother-in-law Gary Cohen was found Thursday, and her two children are begging rescuers to search a similar grid line to find their father.

"The community outpours so much love," she said, recalling how volunteers wrapped her in a blanket, brought her food and coffee in the initial days after the collapse and "surrounded me with so much emotional support."

She still has the blanket, she said in a text Friday.

Rachel Spiegel, whose mother, Judy, is still missing, said she, her father and brother also have made connections with other families inside the room, but she stopped short of calling it comforting.

"I don't know if I would define it as comfort yet because we still don't know where my mom is," she said. "She's still missing."

While sobs could be heard in the background Wednesday night as officials announced they would shift from rescue to recovery, largely dashing any hope of survivors, some families said they won't feel different until they have final word on their loved ones.

"It's hard to digest," Spiegel said in a phone call. "Many people did say they feel the shift. For us, we just want to find my mom and be reunited with her. We're still hoping for the best. We're going to have this shift once we find her and are reunited with her."

The Cohen family said not having any updates about Brad Cohen was agonizing.

"I don't think the terminology of rescue versus recovery matters. It's semantics," said Soriya Cohen. "They will find people in whatever state they are in, however it's termed."

Other families told rescuers they did feel a sense of finality once workers started searching for victims instead of survivors.

"There has been a sort of shift I think toward acceptance but also obviously with that comes some sadness," said Castro, adding that the families are physically and emotionally exhausted. "It's a lot, a lot of emotional roller coasters that they've been on, just trying to stay positive and hold out the wait," she said.

The family briefings are surrounded by heavy security, with various checkpoints to protect their privacy.

Organizations set up at a line of tables in the room offer everything from free international phone calls and counseling to clothing and housing. Several snowbirds are offering their Surfside homes to displaced survivors, said Rabbi Yakov Saacks, a family friend who flew from New York to comfort the Cohens. The owner of a 16-unit building opened it up rent-free to Surfside survivors for the month of July.

Huge platters of catered food sit day and night, including glatt kosher meals, all donated by community members longing to ease the pain.

Meanwhile, Support Surfside has raised $2 million for victims with another $2 million pledged, and GoFundMe has separately raised $1.7 million for various families.

The nearby Shul has been transformed into a huge clothing and dry goods facility for families to pick up items while they wait.

Saacks described the ballroom as painfully quiet at times.

"While families were either sitting or standing together, they were, for the most part, just silently and painfully waiting for news," he said. "While some families would welcome any news at that stage, others would welcome only good news."

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Cities trust, but don’t always verify, the safety of high-rises

cincylink — Sun, 11 Jul 2021 04:18:10 +0000

In the years before a section of their high-rise suddenly pancaked to the ground, residents of Champlain Towers South were working to address defects identified in a periodic structural safety review, an unusual local requirement for all tall buildings that reach 40 years old.

“It’s very strict,” said Kit Miyamoto, CEO of Miyamoto International, a global structural engineering firm “This is the first thing I’ve seen like that.”

The Newsy investigative team reviewed building codes in seven major U.S. cities and found the more common approach is to require checking structural integrity only when a tower is new.

After that, city codes diverge.

New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco call for routine checkups only of tower exteriors, where pieces might fall off and hurt someone on the ground.

Definitions of a high-rise vary, as do how often re-inspections should occur: every five years in Boston, up to every 12 years in Chicago.

Seattle re-certifies towers only after damage from an event such as an earthquake.

Houston requires inspections of apartment buildings every four years, but not condominiums unless someone makes a complaint.

The cities are following guidance from the International Code Council.

The group’s model building codes don’t say anything about whether high-rises should be re-inspected, only that they should be maintained and stay structurally sound.

That may change soon.

“We have to be more diligent in the future,” said Dominic Sims, the council’s CEO.

The group is planning to meet in August to discuss the collapse and to consider periodic building inspections.

The council also will review any findings from investigators at the National Institute of Standards and Technology who are on the ground in Surfside, Fla.

“We’re going to want to hear from the experts,” Sims said, adding there is a “very strong likelihood” the council will adopt new guidelines for routine re-inspections of high-rises, at least for areas in the bullseye of climate change with sea-level rise and stronger storms.

“The forces that are acting on buildings are changing,” he said.

There is concern that new recommendations to regularly examine high-rises in all cities would be an overreaction.

“It’s not really the right way to spend resources,” Miyamoto said.

If towers are built to code and weather-tight, they should "last forever," he said.

Without mandated re-inspections, in a condo building, it’s often up to residents to detect trouble themselves and agree to pay for costly fixes.

While investigators are still determining what brought down part of Champlain Towers, condo owners had been grappling with repairs that an engineer warned would be “extremely expensive.”

Sims said people will expect tougher building codes following the tragedy in Surfside.

“Just the mere fact that it did fall, and in the U.S., that’s not something that I think the public will accept,” he said.

This story was originally published by Patrick Terpstra on Newsy.com.

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Recovery workers vow not to let up in search at Florida condo collapse site

cincylink — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 04:28:35 +0000

Rescue workers now focused on finding remains instead of survivors in the rubble of a Florida condominium collapse vowed Thursday to keep up their search for victims until they cleared all the debris at the site.Earlier, a fire official told family members at a meeting that crews "will not stop working until they've gotten to the bottom of the pile and recovered every single of the families' missing loved ones," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said at an evening news conference. He did not identify the official, but said the families were grateful."This is exactly the message the families wanted to hear," he said. As the search continued, a Paraguayan official disclosed late Thursday that rescuers had found in the rubble the bodies of Sophia López Moreira, the sister of Paraguay's first lady Silvana Abdo, and López Moreira's husband Luis Pettengill and the youngest of their three children.That South American nation's foreign minister, Euclides Acevedo, told Paraguay's ABC Cardinal radio station that the two other children and the family assistant are still missing."We ask people for their solidarity and a prayer," he said. "In the face of a tragedy, Paraguayan people must show their traditional solidarity."During the day Thursday, the death toll rose to 64, with another 76 people unaccounted for, Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said earlier. Detectives are still working to verify that each of those listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed. Levine Cava said teams paused briefly atop the pile to mark the two-week anniversary of the disaster, but there was no let-up in the pace or number of rescuers at the site."The work continues with all speed and urgency," she said. "We are working around the clock to recover victims and to bring closure to the families as fast as we possibly can." The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday after authorities said they had come to the agonizing conclusion that there was "no chance of life" in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside."When that happened, it took a little piece of the hearts of this community," said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose congressional district includes Surfside.Michael Stratton, whose wife, Cassie, has not officially been confirmed dead, said friends and family had accepted "the loss of a bright and kind soul with an adventurous spirit." He was talking on the phone with his wife right when the building collapsed, and she described shaking before the phone went dead, he has told Denver's KDVR-TV. "This wasn't the miracle we prayed for, but it was not for lack of trying by rescue crews whose tireless bravery will never be forgotten," he said in a statement Thursday.Wasserman Schultz and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged financial assistance to families of the victims, as well as to residents of the building who survived but lost all their possessions. In addition to property tax relief for residents of the building, DeSantis said, the state government will work toward channeling an outpouring of charitable donations to families affected by the collapse. Levine Cava said crews were also collecting and cataloguing numerous personal items, including legal documents, photo albums, jewelry, and electronic goods that they would seek to reunite families with.The Rev. Juan Sosa of St. Joseph Catholic Church met with other spiritual leaders at the collapse site, where heavy machinery worked in the rubble and mourners left flowers and photos. He said faith leaders hope to bring peace to the grieving families."I'm hoping that they have some closure as we continue to pray for them," he said.The change from search and rescue to recovery was somber. Hours before the transition Wednesday, rescue workers stood at solemn attention, and clergy members hugged local officials, many of them sobbing. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said Wednesday he expects the recovery effort will take several more weeks. He added crews are now using heavier equipment, expediting the removal of debris. "We are expecting the progress to move at a faster pace," he added.Hope of finding survivors was briefly rekindled after workers demolished the remainder of the building, allowing access to new areas of debris.Some voids where survivors could have been trapped did exist, mostly in the basement and the parking garage, but no one was found alive. Instead, teams recovered more than a dozen additional victims.No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the 12-story building fell on June 24.Meanwhile, authorities are launching a grand jury investigation into the collapse. And at least six lawsuits have been filed by families.___Associated Press writers Stacey Plaisance in Surfside, Florida; Kelli Kennedy and Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Ian Mader and Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami; Pedro Serving in Asuncion, Paraguay, and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed to this report.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Rescue workers now focused on finding remains instead of survivors in the rubble of a Florida condominium collapse vowed Thursday to keep up their search for victims until they cleared all the debris at the site.

Earlier, a fire official told family members at a meeting that crews "will not stop working until they've gotten to the bottom of the pile and recovered every single of the families' missing loved ones," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said at an evening news conference. He did not identify the official, but said the families were grateful.

"This is exactly the message the families wanted to hear," he said.

As the search continued, a Paraguayan official disclosed late Thursday that rescuers had found in the rubble the bodies of Sophia López Moreira, the sister of Paraguay's first lady Silvana Abdo, and López Moreira's husband Luis Pettengill and the youngest of their three children.

That South American nation's foreign minister, Euclides Acevedo, told Paraguay's ABC Cardinal radio station that the two other children and the family assistant are still missing.

"We ask people for their solidarity and a prayer," he said. "In the face of a tragedy, Paraguayan people must show their traditional solidarity."

During the day Thursday, the death toll rose to 64, with another 76 people unaccounted for, Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said earlier. Detectives are still working to verify that each of those listed as missing was actually in the building when it collapsed.

Levine Cava said teams paused briefly atop the pile to mark the two-week anniversary of the disaster, but there was no let-up in the pace or number of rescuers at the site.

"The work continues with all speed and urgency," she said. "We are working around the clock to recover victims and to bring closure to the families as fast as we possibly can."

The painstaking search for survivors shifted to a recovery effort at midnight Wednesday after authorities said they had come to the agonizing conclusion that there was "no chance of life" in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside.

"When that happened, it took a little piece of the hearts of this community," said U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose congressional district includes Surfside.

Michael Stratton, whose wife, Cassie, has not officially been confirmed dead, said friends and family had accepted "the loss of a bright and kind soul with an adventurous spirit." He was talking on the phone with his wife right when the building collapsed, and she described shaking before the phone went dead, he has told Denver's KDVR-TV.

"This wasn't the miracle we prayed for, but it was not for lack of trying by rescue crews whose tireless bravery will never be forgotten," he said in a statement Thursday.

Wasserman Schultz and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pledged financial assistance to families of the victims, as well as to residents of the building who survived but lost all their possessions.

In addition to property tax relief for residents of the building, DeSantis said, the state government will work toward channeling an outpouring of charitable donations to families affected by the collapse. Levine Cava said crews were also collecting and cataloguing numerous personal items, including legal documents, photo albums, jewelry, and electronic goods that they would seek to reunite families with.

The Rev. Juan Sosa of St. Joseph Catholic Church met with other spiritual leaders at the collapse site, where heavy machinery worked in the rubble and mourners left flowers and photos. He said faith leaders hope to bring peace to the grieving families.

"I'm hoping that they have some closure as we continue to pray for them," he said.

The change from search and rescue to recovery was somber. Hours before the transition Wednesday, rescue workers stood at solemn attention, and clergy members hugged local officials, many of them sobbing.

Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said Wednesday he expects the recovery effort will take several more weeks. He added crews are now using heavier equipment, expediting the removal of debris.

"We are expecting the progress to move at a faster pace," he added.

Hope of finding survivors was briefly rekindled after workers demolished the remainder of the building, allowing access to new areas of debris.

Some voids where survivors could have been trapped did exist, mostly in the basement and the parking garage, but no one was found alive. Instead, teams recovered more than a dozen additional victims.

No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the 12-story building fell on June 24.

Meanwhile, authorities are launching a grand jury investigation into the collapse. And at least six lawsuits have been filed by families.

___

Associated Press writers Stacey Plaisance in Surfside, Florida; Kelli Kennedy and Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Ian Mader and Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami; Pedro Serving in Asuncion, Paraguay, and Sudhin Thanawala in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis parts with Trump in response to Surfside tragedy

cincylink — Sat, 10 Jul 2021 04:18:28 +0000

The tragedy in Surfside is exposing voters to a different side of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for a reelection bid next year that could propel him into a presidential campaign.

He’s still the conservative populist who rarely parts with Donald Trump. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster.

In the two weeks since the condo collapse, DeSantis has stood somberly with local officials, including Democrats, as they assessed the damage.

He nodded in agreement when President Joe Biden visited, and he skipped a rally headlined by Trump.

Trump's endorsement was vital to DeSantis winning the race for governor in 2018. But after a condo collapse that has killed at least 64 people, his work across the aisle with local officials has won him praise from leaders on the ground.

“The governor has been decisive. He’s been constant. He’s been collaborative,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava, a Democrat who has sparred with DeSantis in the past, said in an interview with the Associated Press. “Hats off to the governor for how he has supported us in this crisis.”

Since assuming the role of governor in 2018, DeSantis has largely shaped his legacy in the mold of Trump. In recent months, he's signed legislation that increases punishments for protesters, particularly those who topple monuments. He also recently signed a bill that prohibits trans-female athletes from participating in women's or girl's sports in high school or college.

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Search of collapsed Florida condo shifts from rescue to recovery

cincylink — Thu, 08 Jul 2021 04:08:02 +0000

Emergency workers who have spent 14 days pulling apart the rubble of a collapsed condo building near Miami said Wednesday they were switching from rescue to recovery mode, signaling the effort to find survivors was all but over.The news followed increasingly somber reports from emergency officials, who indicated they had been preparing families for the worst outcome.Rescue crews pulled 10 more bodies from a collapsed condo building Wednesday, and the emotional toll mounted as officials fought back tears and lamented the ordeal of exhausted families still awaiting word on missing loved ones.The 14th day of the search yielded the highest number of bodies found in a single day and pushed the death toll up to 46.Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families at a private briefing Wednesday afternoon that the emergency crews would remove the rescue dogs and sound devices, but otherwise would continue to search through the rubble for the bodies of their relatives."Our sole responsibility at this point is to bring closure," he said, as relatives sobbed in the background.For about two weeks after Champlain Towers South collapsed, officials stressed their focus on finding survivors — a hope that was rekindled after workers demolished the remainder of the building, allowing rescuers access to new areas of debris. The hope was that they might find "voids," or open pockets in the rubble where someone could have survived.Some of those voids did exist, mostly in the basement and the parking garage, but no survivors were found. Instead, they recovered more than a dozen additional victims. Because the building fell in the early hours of June 24, many were found dead in their beds. There are 94 people who are still unaccounted for.No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the 12-story building fell.Twice during the search operation, rescuers had to suspend the mission because of the instability of the remaining part of the condominium building and the preparation for demolition.After initially hoping for miraculous rescues, families have slowly begun bracing themselves for the news that their relatives did not survive."For some, what they're telling us it's almost a sense of relief when they already know (that someone has died) and they can just start to put an end to that chapter and start to move on," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue firefighter and paramedic Maggie Castro, who has updated families daily at private briefings.Authorities are launching a grand jury investigation into the collapse and at least six lawsuits have been filed by Champlain Towers families.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Emergency workers who have spent 14 days pulling apart the rubble of a collapsed condo building near Miami said Wednesday they were switching from rescue to recovery mode, signaling the effort to find survivors was all but over.

The news followed increasingly somber reports from emergency officials, who indicated they had been preparing families for the worst outcome.

Rescue crews pulled 10 more bodies from a collapsed condo building Wednesday, and the emotional toll mounted as officials fought back tears and lamented the ordeal of exhausted families still awaiting word on missing loved ones.

The 14th day of the search yielded the highest number of bodies found in a single day and pushed the death toll up to 46.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah told families at a private briefing Wednesday afternoon that the emergency crews would remove the rescue dogs and sound devices, but otherwise would continue to search through the rubble for the bodies of their relatives.

"Our sole responsibility at this point is to bring closure," he said, as relatives sobbed in the background.

For about two weeks after Champlain Towers South collapsed, officials stressed their focus on finding survivors — a hope that was rekindled after workers demolished the remainder of the building, allowing rescuers access to new areas of debris. The hope was that they might find "voids," or open pockets in the rubble where someone could have survived.

Lynne Sladky / AP Photo
A police officer walks past the collapsed and demolished Champlain Towers South condominium building, Tuesday, July 6, 2021, in Surfside, Fla.

Some of those voids did exist, mostly in the basement and the parking garage, but no survivors were found. Instead, they recovered more than a dozen additional victims. Because the building fell in the early hours of June 24, many were found dead in their beds. There are 94 people who are still unaccounted for.

No one has been pulled out alive since the first hours after the 12-story building fell.

Twice during the search operation, rescuers had to suspend the mission because of the instability of the remaining part of the condominium building and the preparation for demolition.

After initially hoping for miraculous rescues, families have slowly begun bracing themselves for the news that their relatives did not survive.

"For some, what they're telling us it's almost a sense of relief when they already know (that someone has died) and they can just start to put an end to that chapter and start to move on," said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue firefighter and paramedic Maggie Castro, who has updated families daily at private briefings.

Authorities are launching a grand jury investigation into the collapse and at least six lawsuits have been filed by Champlain Towers families.

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Rescue efforts in Surfside suspended as officials prepare to demolish tower

cincylink — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 04:18:32 +0000

Rescue efforts at the site of a partially collapsed condo tower in Surfside, Florida, have been suspended as officials prepare to demolish the portion of the building that's still standing.

Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said that first responders suspended their rescue mission at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday. He reiterated during a press conference that the demolition was necessary to keep rescue workers safe.

An emergency order approving the demolition has already been signed.

Workers will bring down the Champlain Towers South on Sunday ahead of the expected arrival of Tropical Storm Elsa.

Structural concerns about the building prompted the stoppage of search and rescue efforts for more than 12 hours on Thursday.

The tower partially collapsed in the early morning hours of June 24.

Earlier on Saturday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Lavine Cava confirmed that two more bodies were pulled from the debris overnight Friday into Saturday. The additional victims bring the death toll to 24, and another 126 who are presumed to be in the building at the time it crumbled are still missing.

Eighteen of the 22 people killed in the collapse have been identified. They are:

Hilda Noriega, 92

Antonio Lozano, 83

Leon Oliwkowicz, 80

Magaly Elena Delgado, 80

Gladys Lozano, 79

Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74

Maria Obias-Bonnefoy, 69

Frank Kleiman, 55

Staci Dawn Fang, 54

Manuel LaFont, 54

Marcus Joseph Guara, 52

Michael David Altman, 50

Anna Ortiz, 46

Anaely Rodriguez, 42

Luis Bermudez, 26

Andreas Giannitsopoulous, 21

Lucia Guara, 10

Emma Guara, 4

Officials have also confirmed that the 7-year-old daughter of a Miami firefighter was also among those killed in the collapse.

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Search and rescue efforts at collapsed Surfside condo paused for demolition preparation

cincylink — Mon, 05 Jul 2021 04:29:45 +0000

Search and rescue efforts at the partially collapsed South Florida condo will temporarily pause as officials prepare for the demolition of the building's remaining units, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Saturday.Search and rescue will resume on safe sections of the site once officials are cleared to do so, she said.Levine Cava did not provide a time for the planned demolition. Officials said earlier Saturday a crew could demolish the remaining units of Champlain Towers South as soon as Sunday, ahead of the approaching Tropical Storm Elsa. Otherwise, Elsa's winds, which might reach the area early next week, could topple the structure unsafely, officials said.A controlled demolition would temporarily halt search and rescue operations in the rubble of the already-collapsed portions. But then searchers could resume work without fear of the standing portions coming down on them, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said."I think as early as tomorrow (Sunday)" the standing portions could be demolished, Burkett said at a news conference Saturday morning.Nearly 55 of the 136 units of the Champlain Towers South, in Surfside just north of Miami Beach, pancaked to the ground in the early hours of June 24. The death toll is 24 so far, and 124 people were unaccounted for of Saturday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.The forecast track for Elsa is uncertain, but even if it's centered well west of Surfside as currently predicted, its windy outer bands could hit Surfside and southeastern Florida by Tuesday, forecasters say.The demolition timeline has not been finalized, as engineers still were at the site doing due diligence, Levine Cava said Saturday morning.But officials' previous thinking about the timeline -- that it couldn't be done before Elsa arrived -- changed after they spoke late Friday with a demolition expert who indicated it could be done sooner, Levine Cava said.Levine Cava on Friday signed an order allowing crews to demolish the remaining structure -- but at the time said it could be weeks before the demolition could happen.Demolition plans still were being made, but they would aim to take the standing portions straight down with charges, Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said Saturday.The demolition would have "a very narrow footprint" so evacuations in the area are not planned, besides temporarily moving the rescuers from the rubble, Levine Cava said. Already-searched areas of the rubble would be covered before the demolition, Cominsky said.Controlled Demolition Inc. would be in charge of the demolition, and has done large demolitions in the past, Levine Cava said.Search and rescue operations continued Saturday morning at the site, where teams have been scouring concrete rubble up to 16 feet deep.Late Friday, a county attorney said in a court filing that the remaining portion of the building is not structurally sound and is behaving in ways that indicate it may fall down, a county attorney said in a court filing late Friday.Search and rescue crews were under "immediate threat" due to the building's instability and Tropical Storm Elsa, which currently is in the Caribbean, said David Murray, the attorney for Miami-Dade County.Murray's court filing said a collapse of the remaining structure would "cause the release of hazardous household materials, particulate matter, and will pose fire risk.""An uncontrolled collapse of the structure -- which is surrounded by residential property, and which is currently being worked and secured by hundreds of fire rescue personnel, police officers, and other government employees -- poses significant risk to human life and property," Murray wrote in the filing.

CNN —

Search and rescue efforts at the partially collapsed South Florida condo will temporarily pause as officials prepare for the demolition of the building's remaining units, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Saturday.

Search and rescue will resume on safe sections of the site once officials are cleared to do so, she said.

Levine Cava did not provide a time for the planned demolition. Officials said earlier Saturday a crew could demolish the remaining units of Champlain Towers South as soon as Sunday, ahead of the approaching Tropical Storm Elsa.

Otherwise, Elsa's winds, which might reach the area early next week, could topple the structure unsafely, officials said.

A controlled demolition would temporarily halt search and rescue operations in the rubble of the already-collapsed portions. But then searchers could resume work without fear of the standing portions coming down on them, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said.

"I think as early as tomorrow (Sunday)" the standing portions could be demolished, Burkett said at a news conference Saturday morning.

Nearly 55 of the 136 units of the Champlain Towers South, in Surfside just north of Miami Beach, pancaked to the ground in the early hours of June 24. The death toll is 24 so far, and 124 people were unaccounted for of Saturday, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

The forecast track for Elsa is uncertain, but even if it's centered well west of Surfside as currently predicted, its windy outer bands could hit Surfside and southeastern Florida by Tuesday, forecasters say.

The demolition timeline has not been finalized, as engineers still were at the site doing due diligence, Levine Cava said Saturday morning.

But officials' previous thinking about the timeline -- that it couldn't be done before Elsa arrived -- changed after they spoke late Friday with a demolition expert who indicated it could be done sooner, Levine Cava said.

Levine Cava on Friday signed an order allowing crews to demolish the remaining structure -- but at the time said it could be weeks before the demolition could happen.

Demolition plans still were being made, but they would aim to take the standing portions straight down with charges, Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said Saturday.

The demolition would have "a very narrow footprint" so evacuations in the area are not planned, besides temporarily moving the rescuers from the rubble, Levine Cava said. Already-searched areas of the rubble would be covered before the demolition, Cominsky said.

Controlled Demolition Inc. would be in charge of the demolition, and has done large demolitions in the past, Levine Cava said.

Search and rescue operations continued Saturday morning at the site, where teams have been scouring concrete rubble up to 16 feet deep.

Late Friday, a county attorney said in a court filing that the remaining portion of the building is not structurally sound and is behaving in ways that indicate it may fall down, a county attorney said in a court filing late Friday.

Search and rescue crews were under "immediate threat" due to the building's instability and Tropical Storm Elsa, which currently is in the Caribbean, said David Murray, the attorney for Miami-Dade County.

Murray's court filing said a collapse of the remaining structure would "cause the release of hazardous household materials, particulate matter, and will pose fire risk."

"An uncontrolled collapse of the structure -- which is surrounded by residential property, and which is currently being worked and secured by hundreds of fire rescue personnel, police officers, and other government employees -- poses significant risk to human life and property," Murray wrote in the filing.

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Following stability concerns affecting search, officials say Florida condo will likely be demolished

cincylink — Sat, 03 Jul 2021 04:19:02 +0000

Florida officials are working on plans to tear down what’s left of a partially collapsed oceanfront condominium building after concerns about the structure’s instability prompted a 15-hour halt to the search for survivors.After rescue efforts resumed Thursday evening, officials said they had started planning for the likely demolition of the remaining structure even as searchers continue to comb the rubble pile beneath it.Scott Nacheman, a FEMA structures specialist, said engineers are looking at different methods for the demolition and how to proceed "to make the site safe for ongoing rescue operations."Nacheman said that if the building comes down, there initially will be a slowdown in the rescue operation. But he said the demolition of the structure would create a safer working environment that could allow more personnel on the site and accelerate the pace of the work.He said it would likely be weeks before officials schedule the demolition.On Friday morning, about a dozen workers could be seen digging through the pile that now reached about 20 feet, more than 10 feet less than it was a week ago. Cranes were again lifting heavy objects from the pile and then workers would climb into the pile and begin removing smaller rubble by hand.Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the decision about the demolition needs to be made "extremely carefully and methodically," considering the potential impact on the pile of debris and the effect on the search.The rescue work was halted early Thursday after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column.Work resumed shortly before 5 p.m. after the site was evaluated by structural engineers, Cava said, describing firefighters as "really, really excited out there.""We will continue to search feverishly, as we have done all along in the parts of the collapse that we currently have access to," she said.The work stoppage had threatened to dim hopes for finding anyone alive in the debris a week after the tower came down. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the halt was worrisome since "minutes and hours matter, lives are at stake."The temporary halt to rescue operations unfolded on the same day that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited the devastated community.The collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing. No one has been rescued since the first hours after the collapse."This is life and death," Biden said during a briefing. "We can do it, just the simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done, makes a difference.""There’s gonna be a lot of pain and anxiety and suffering and even the need for psychological help in the days and months that follow," he said. "And so, we’re not going anywhere."Peter Milián is a cousin of Marcus Guara, who died along with his wife, Anaely Rodriguez, and their two children, 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara. Milián said he understood why the rescue work had to be temporarily halted."I mean, they’ve done everything they can. But we trust the people that are on the ground. And obviously, they’ve got to do what’s best for their people, right? Because it is a dangerous situation," he said.During a private meeting with family members, Biden drew on his own experiences with grief to try to comfort them. Biden lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car crash and decades later lost an adult son to brain cancer."I just wish there was something I could do to ease the pain," he said in a video posted on Instagram by Jacqueline Patoka, a woman who was close to a couple and their daughter who are still missing.Biden spoke of wanting to switch places with a lost or missing loved one. "The waiting, the waiting is unbearable," he said.The cause of the collapse is under investigation. A 2018 engineering report found that the building's ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had "major structural damage" and needed extensive repairs. The report also found "abundant cracking" of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.Just two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had "gotten significantly worse" and that major repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building suddenly collapsed last Thursday.___Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale and Mark Kennedy in New York contributed to this report.

Florida officials are working on plans to tear down what’s left of a partially collapsed oceanfront condominium building after concerns about the structure’s instability prompted a 15-hour halt to the search for survivors.

After rescue efforts resumed Thursday evening, officials said they had started planning for the likely demolition of the remaining structure even as searchers continue to comb the rubble pile beneath it.

Scott Nacheman, a FEMA structures specialist, said engineers are looking at different methods for the demolition and how to proceed "to make the site safe for ongoing rescue operations."

Nacheman said that if the building comes down, there initially will be a slowdown in the rescue operation. But he said the demolition of the structure would create a safer working environment that could allow more personnel on the site and accelerate the pace of the work.

He said it would likely be weeks before officials schedule the demolition.

On Friday morning, about a dozen workers could be seen digging through the pile that now reached about 20 feet, more than 10 feet less than it was a week ago. Cranes were again lifting heavy objects from the pile and then workers would climb into the pile and begin removing smaller rubble by hand.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said the decision about the demolition needs to be made "extremely carefully and methodically," considering the potential impact on the pile of debris and the effect on the search.

The rescue work was halted early Thursday after crews noticed widening cracks and up to a foot of movement in a large column.

Work resumed shortly before 5 p.m. after the site was evaluated by structural engineers, Cava said, describing firefighters as "really, really excited out there."

"We will continue to search feverishly, as we have done all along in the parts of the collapse that we currently have access to," she said.

The work stoppage had threatened to dim hopes for finding anyone alive in the debris a week after the tower came down. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the halt was worrisome since "minutes and hours matter, lives are at stake."

The temporary halt to rescue operations unfolded on the same day that President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited the devastated community.

The collapse of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium killed at least 18 people and left 145 missing. No one has been rescued since the first hours after the collapse.

"This is life and death," Biden said during a briefing. "We can do it, just the simple act of everyone doing what needs to be done, makes a difference."

"There’s gonna be a lot of pain and anxiety and suffering and even the need for psychological help in the days and months that follow," he said. "And so, we’re not going anywhere."

Peter Milián is a cousin of Marcus Guara, who died along with his wife, Anaely Rodriguez, and their two children, 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara. Milián said he understood why the rescue work had to be temporarily halted.

"I mean, they’ve done everything they can. But we trust the people that are on the ground. And obviously, they’ve got to do what’s best for their people, right? Because it is a dangerous situation," he said.

During a private meeting with family members, Biden drew on his own experiences with grief to try to comfort them. Biden lost his first wife and baby daughter in a car crash and decades later lost an adult son to brain cancer.

"I just wish there was something I could do to ease the pain," he said in a video posted on Instagram by Jacqueline Patoka, a woman who was close to a couple and their daughter who are still missing.

Biden spoke of wanting to switch places with a lost or missing loved one. "The waiting, the waiting is unbearable," he said.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation. A 2018 engineering report found that the building's ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had "major structural damage" and needed extensive repairs. The report also found "abundant cracking" of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.

Just two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had "gotten significantly worse" and that major repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building suddenly collapsed last Thursday.

___

Associated Press writers Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale and Mark Kennedy in New York contributed to this report.

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In collapsed building’s twin, most residents are staying put

cincylink — Wed, 30 Jun 2021 04:28:53 +0000

About a block from the Miami-area beachfront condominium tower that collapsed sits its sister building, Champlain Towers North.

It was erected in 1982 — a year after the now-partially collapsed Champlain Towers South — built by the same company, using the same materials and a similar design.

It has faced the same tides and salty air.

Last Thursday's collapse has made some residents of Champlain Towers North worried enough to leave, though most have remained. They say they are confident their almost 40-year-old, 12-story building is better maintained.

They say their building doesn't have the same problems with cracking in support beams and in the pool area that 2018 engineering reports show the south tower had.

"I've never seen any major structural issues" in the north building, said Philip Zyne, an attorney. "I'm not worried at all right now. I do want to get a full structural engineering and forensic examination done."

However, some residents aren't taking any chances, like Rebecca Weinstock, who bought a sixth-floor apartment four years ago. She's currently in New York, where she plans to stay.

"I am out my investment, I am out my apartment, I am out my future, but we are talking about lives here," she told the Associated Press.

She added she'll only return to the building if two independent engineers from outside the region determine it's safe to return.

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Crews spend 5th day atop shaky pile of collapsed condo concrete in Florida

cincylink — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 04:17:54 +0000

Rescuers searching for a fifth day for survivors of a Florida condo building collapse used bucket brigades and heavy machinery Monday as they worked atop a precarious mound of pulverized concrete, twisted steel and the remnants of dozens of households.Authorities said their efforts were still a search-and-rescue operation, but no one has been found alive since hours after the collapse on Thursday. Eleven people have been confirmed killed, and more than 150 others are still missing in the community of Surfside, just outside Miami.The pancake collapse of the building left layer upon layer of intertwined debris, frustrating efforts to reach anyone who may have survived in a pocket of space."Every time there's an action, there's a reaction," Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said during a news conference. "It's not an issue of we could just attach a couple of cords to a concrete boulder and lift it and call it a day." Some of the concrete pieces are smaller, the size of basketballs or baseballs.Underscoring the risks of the work, he noted that families who rode buses to visit the site on Sunday witnessed a rescuer tumble 25 feet down the pile. Workers and victims must both be considered, he said."It's going to take time," he said. "It's not going to happen overnight. It's a 12-story building."Relatives continued their visits on Monday. From outside a neighboring building, more than two dozen family members watched teams of searchers excavate the building site. Some held onto each other for support. Others hugged and prayed. Some people took photos.The intense effort includes firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts using radar and sonar devices.Early Monday, a crane lifted a large slab of concrete from the debris pile, enabling about 30 rescuers in hard hats to move in and carry smaller pieces of debris into red buckets, which are emptied into a larger bin for a crane to remove. The work has been complicated by intermittent rain showers, but the fires that hampered the initial search have been extinguished.Jimmy Patronis, Florida's chief financial officer and state fire marshal, said it was the largest deployment of such resources in Florida history that was not due to a hurricane. He said the same number of people were on the ground in Surfside as during Hurricane Michael, a devastating Category 5 hurricane that hit 12 counties in 2018."They're working around the clock," Patronis said. "They're working 12 hours at a time, midnight to noon to midnight."Andy Alvarez, a deputy incident commander with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that rescuers have been able to find some voids, or spaces, inside the wreckage, mostly in the basement and the parking garage."We have been able to tunnel through the building," Alvarez said. "This is a frantic search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive."Others who have seen the wreckage up close were daunted by the task ahead. Alfredo Lopez, who lived with his wife in a sixth-floor corner apartment and narrowly escaped, said he finds it hard to believe anyone is alive in the rubble."If you saw what I saw: nothingness. And then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble. How can somebody survive that?" Lopez told The Associated Press.Authorities on Monday insisted they are not losing hope."We're going to continue and work ceaselessly to exhaust every possible option in our search," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Monday.Deciding to transition from search-and-rescue work to a recovery operation is agonizing, said Dr. Joseph A. Barbera, a professor at George Washington University. That decision is fraught with considerations, he said, that only those on the ground can make.Barbera coauthored a study examining disasters where some people survived under rubble for prolonged periods of time. He has also advised teams on where to look for potential survivors and when to conclude "that the probability of continued survival is very, very small.""It's an incredibly difficult decision, and I've never had to make that decision," Barbera said.As time goes on, he said, teams will begin a process called "rapid delayering, where you take more risk by moving larger amounts of rubble, because you recognize you're running up against the time factor for survival."How long a person can survive depends on a host of issues, including the availability of water, the severity of any injuries and the degree to which they are trapped, Barbera said."The human dimension is huge -- the uncertainty that you could be leaving someone alive behind by ending too early," Barbera said. "Families continue to have hope, as do rescuers, which is why you continue to see them pushing so hard within these difficult conditions."The ultimate decision to move into the recovery phase, he said, will have to be made "with the involvement of the political authority because they're the ultimate authority over this."The building collapsed just days before a deadline for condo owners to start making steep payments toward more than $9 million in repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier, in a report that warned of "major structural damage."A federal team of scientists and engineers are conducting a preliminary investigation at the site and will determine whether to launch a full probe of what caused the building to come down. The National Institute of Standards and Technology also investigated disasters such as the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11, Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico and a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people. Previous investigations have taken years to complete.___Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami, Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee, Florida; Julie Walker in New York and others from around the United States contributed to this report.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Rescuers searching for a fifth day for survivors of a Florida condo building collapse used bucket brigades and heavy machinery Monday as they worked atop a precarious mound of pulverized concrete, twisted steel and the remnants of dozens of households.

Authorities said their efforts were still a search-and-rescue operation, but no one has been found alive since hours after the collapse on Thursday. Eleven people have been confirmed killed, and more than 150 others are still missing in the community of Surfside, just outside Miami.

The pancake collapse of the building left layer upon layer of intertwined debris, frustrating efforts to reach anyone who may have survived in a pocket of space.

"Every time there's an action, there's a reaction," Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said during a news conference. "It's not an issue of we could just attach a couple of cords to a concrete boulder and lift it and call it a day." Some of the concrete pieces are smaller, the size of basketballs or baseballs.

Underscoring the risks of the work, he noted that families who rode buses to visit the site on Sunday witnessed a rescuer tumble 25 feet down the pile. Workers and victims must both be considered, he said.

"It's going to take time," he said. "It's not going to happen overnight. It's a 12-story building."

Relatives continued their visits on Monday. From outside a neighboring building, more than two dozen family members watched teams of searchers excavate the building site. Some held onto each other for support. Others hugged and prayed. Some people took photos.

GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
Members of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for possible survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 27, 2021 in Surfside, Florida.

The intense effort includes firefighters, sniffer dogs and search experts using radar and sonar devices.

Early Monday, a crane lifted a large slab of concrete from the debris pile, enabling about 30 rescuers in hard hats to move in and carry smaller pieces of debris into red buckets, which are emptied into a larger bin for a crane to remove. The work has been complicated by intermittent rain showers, but the fires that hampered the initial search have been extinguished.

Jimmy Patronis, Florida's chief financial officer and state fire marshal, said it was the largest deployment of such resources in Florida history that was not due to a hurricane. He said the same number of people were on the ground in Surfside as during Hurricane Michael, a devastating Category 5 hurricane that hit 12 counties in 2018.

"They're working around the clock," Patronis said. "They're working 12 hours at a time, midnight to noon to midnight."

Andy Alvarez, a deputy incident commander with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, told ABC's "Good Morning America" that rescuers have been able to find some voids, or spaces, inside the wreckage, mostly in the basement and the parking garage.

"We have been able to tunnel through the building," Alvarez said. "This is a frantic search to seek that hope, that miracle, to see who we can bring out of this building alive."

Others who have seen the wreckage up close were daunted by the task ahead. Alfredo Lopez, who lived with his wife in a sixth-floor corner apartment and narrowly escaped, said he finds it hard to believe anyone is alive in the rubble.

"If you saw what I saw: nothingness. And then, you go over there and you see, like, all the rubble. How can somebody survive that?" Lopez told The Associated Press.

Wilfredo Lee
Crews work in the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo, Sunday, June 27, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. Many people were still unaccounted for after Thursday’s fatal collapse.

Authorities on Monday insisted they are not losing hope.

"We're going to continue and work ceaselessly to exhaust every possible option in our search," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Monday.

Deciding to transition from search-and-rescue work to a recovery operation is agonizing, said Dr. Joseph A. Barbera, a professor at George Washington University. That decision is fraught with considerations, he said, that only those on the ground can make.

Barbera coauthored a study examining disasters where some people survived under rubble for prolonged periods of time. He has also advised teams on where to look for potential survivors and when to conclude "that the probability of continued survival is very, very small."

"It's an incredibly difficult decision, and I've never had to make that decision," Barbera said.

As time goes on, he said, teams will begin a process called "rapid delayering, where you take more risk by moving larger amounts of rubble, because you recognize you're running up against the time factor for survival."

How long a person can survive depends on a host of issues, including the availability of water, the severity of any injuries and the degree to which they are trapped, Barbera said.

"The human dimension is huge -- the uncertainty that you could be leaving someone alive behind by ending too early," Barbera said. "Families continue to have hope, as do rescuers, which is why you continue to see them pushing so hard within these difficult conditions."

The ultimate decision to move into the recovery phase, he said, will have to be made "with the involvement of the political authority because they're the ultimate authority over this."

The building collapsed just days before a deadline for condo owners to start making steep payments toward more than $9 million in repairs that had been recommended nearly three years earlier, in a report that warned of "major structural damage."

A federal team of scientists and engineers are conducting a preliminary investigation at the site and will determine whether to launch a full probe of what caused the building to come down. The National Institute of Standards and Technology also investigated disasters such as the collapse of the twin towers on 9/11, Hurricane Maria's devastation in Puerto Rico and a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people. Previous investigations have taken years to complete.

___

Associated Press writers Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami, Freida Frisaro in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Bobby Caina Calvan in Tallahassee, Florida; Julie Walker in New York and others from around the United States contributed to this report.

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Death toll from Surfside condo collapse up to 11, 150 people still missing

cincylink — Tue, 29 Jun 2021 04:17:46 +0000

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Monday that the death toll from a collapsed condominium tower had risen to 11 after first responders pulled an additional body from the rubble.

She added that 150 people remain unaccounted for and 136 have been accounted for following the Thursday morning collapse.

Officials have also identified four more of the deceased victims:
-Leon Oliwkowicz, 80
-Luis Bermudez, 26
-Anna Ortiz, 46
-Christina Beatriz Elvira, 74

Last week authorities identified the first four victims.
-Staci Dawn Fang, 54
-Antonio Lozano, 83
-Gladys Lozano, 79
-Manuel Lafont, 5

Levine Cava added that first responders are still focused on search and rescue efforts.

"We are exploring all possible avenues (first responders) identify," Levine Cava said. "Search and rescue operations continue."

Raide Jadallah, the assistant chief of rescue for Miami-Dade County, said that officials had discovered several large pockets in debris that might hold survivors.

He also cautioned that officials need to be judicious in moving debris, adding that missteps could result in further collapse. He noted that one rescuer fell 25 feet over the weekend during his work.

"What we're dealing with is a situation that includes complexity," he said. "Every time there's an action, there's a reaction."

Monday marked the fifth straight day first responders had searched a large pile of debris for survivors. Officials said first responders are working 12-hour shifts.

"This is the largest-ever deployment of task force resources in the history of Florida that is not a hurricane," Florida State Fire Marshall Jimmy Patronis said. "They come from Tallahassee, they come from Orlando, they come from Tampa, they come from Israel, they come from Mexico, they come from Jacksonville, they come from Ft. Myers. They leave their families to come work around the clock. The reward is the life they save."

Fire officials have also had to deal with a fire that broke out within the wreckage. As of Sunday, officials said they had contained that fire.

Jose "Pepe" Diaz, the chairman of the Miami-Dade County board of commissioners, spoke to the difficulties facing the loved ones of those still missing.

"The pain in their face, their expressions is unlike anything I've ever seen before," Diaz said. "It's very difficult to know what your loved one could still be alive and have the hope to believe that. And at the same time, just sit there and wait for that information to get to you. That has to be one of the most difficult things anyone can endure."

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett shared the touching story of a young girl whose parent is still missing.

"When I came across her, she was sitting in a chair by herself, with nobody around her, looking at her phone," he said. "I knelt down, and I asked her, 'So what are you doing? Are you okay?' She said 'yes.' She was reading a Jewish prayer to herself by the site where one of her parents presumably is. That really brought it home to me."

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis added that his state would begin deploying resources to investigate the cause of the collapse as soon as possible.

"There are things that need to be done at the state level," DeSantis said, "We obviously want to get information as soon as possible, so we pledge at the state if they need support from engineers, from experts whatever we need, whether it's Surfside or Miami, we're here to help. I think the people of Florida want to understand how this could happen and what could we do to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Mayor Cava said Thursday evening that $1.6 million have been raised to help families via https://SupportSurfside.org.

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Family finds hope as search continues for missing in Florida condo collapse

cincylink — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 04:28:46 +0000

Video above: View from air shows destruction at condo collapseWhen Mike Noriega heard that part of the condominium tower where his grandmother lived had collapsed, he rushed with his father to the scene. They arrived at a nightmarish 30-foot pile of pancaked concrete and mangled metal, the remains of her 12-story building — and no sign of 92-year-old Hilda Noriega.But among the flying debris, they stumbled across mementos that bore witness to Hilda's life on the sixth floor in Champlain Towers South: an old picture of her with her late husband and their infant son, and a birthday card that friends from her prayer group sent two weeks earlier with the acronym “ESM,” Spanish for “hand-delivered,” scrawled across the yellow envelope with a butterfly etching.“There was a message in the mess of all this,” Noriega said. “It means not to give up hope. To have faith.”Days after Thursday's collapse, Hilda remains among more than 150 people unaccounted for in Surfside, north of Miami Beach, with five confirmed dead and authorities and loved ones fearing the toll will go much higher.As scores of rescuers continue to use heavy machinery and power tools to clear the rubble from the top and tunnel in from below, the Noriega family still have hope she will be found alive.“Some miracles are very big, others are small,” said Mike, 36, who last spoke to Hilda the day before the disaster.They described Hilda as a fiercely independent and vivacious retiree — in Mike's words, “the youngest 92-year-old I know ... 92 going on 62.”Hilda Noriega had called Champlain Towers South home for more than 20 years. But six years removed from her husband's death, she was ready to leave. The condo was up for sale, and her plan was to move in with family.She had loved living near the ocean and friends, but “when you lose a spouse, you want to be surrounded by family ... and she wanted to spend more time with her family and grandchildren,” said Sally Noriega, Hilda's daughter-in-law.Sally called Hilda a sweet, loving person who built a life with her husband and raised a family after coming to the U.S. from Cuba in 1960.“She was just one of those people who from the first time she met a person she instantly loved that person, and that person instantly loved her,” Sally said. Carlos Noriega, Hilda's son and police chief of nearby North Bay Village, was one of the emergency responders clambering atop the pile.The Noriegas don't entirely know what to make of the treasured mementos found amid the chaos, but Sally said: “We are a family of faith. We’ll just leave it at that.”They are among dozens of anguished families awaiting word on the fate of loved ones. The wait has been agonizing.The atmosphere inside a hotel ballroom where around 200 family members were being briefed by authorities Saturday was tense, two people present told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.The two said families frustrated with the slow pace of recovery efforts had demanded they be allowed to go to the scene and attempt a collective shout — an attempt as much to find survivors as a cathartic farewell to those who had died.The confirmed death toll rose to five Saturday as rescuers battled fire and smoke deep inside the heap in a race against time. With a sulfur-like stench hanging in the air, they used everything from trained dogs and sonar equipment to buckets and drones.“Our top priority continues to be search-and-rescue and saving any lives that we can,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.The mayor said the identification of three bodies had dropped the number of people unaccounted for down to 156, and crews also discovered other unspecified human remains. The remains are being sent to the medical examiner, and authorities are gathering DNA samples from family members to aid in identification.A video posted online showed an official briefing families. When he said they had found remains among the rubble, people began sobbing.Late Saturday, four of the victims were identified, as Stacie Dawn Fang, 54; Antonio Lozano, 83, and Gladys Lozano, 79; and Manuel LaFont, 54.The Paramount Miami Worldcenter tower in downtown Miami was also lit with the words “One World, One Prayer.” Organizers plan to light up the condo building with the message every night for two minutes on the hour until all victims of the Champlain Towers South collapse are accounted for.Also late Saturday, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said a city official had led a cursory review of the nearby Champlain Towers North and Champlain Towers East buildings but “didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.”The news came after word of a 2018 engineering report that showed the building, which was built in 1981, had “major structural damage” to a concrete slab below its pool deck that needed extensive repairs, part of a series of documents released by the city of Surfside.While officials said no cause for the collapse early Thursday has been determined, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said a “definitive answer” was needed in a timely manner.___Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Video above: View from air shows destruction at condo collapse

When Mike Noriega heard that part of the condominium tower where his grandmother lived had collapsed, he rushed with his father to the scene. They arrived at a nightmarish 30-foot pile of pancaked concrete and mangled metal, the remains of her 12-story building — and no sign of 92-year-old Hilda Noriega.

But among the flying debris, they stumbled across mementos that bore witness to Hilda's life on the sixth floor in Champlain Towers South: an old picture of her with her late husband and their infant son, and a birthday card that friends from her prayer group sent two weeks earlier with the acronym “ESM,” Spanish for “hand-delivered,” scrawled across the yellow envelope with a butterfly etching.

“There was a message in the mess of all this,” Noriega said. “It means not to give up hope. To have faith.”

Days after Thursday's collapse, Hilda remains among more than 150 people unaccounted for in Surfside, north of Miami Beach, with five confirmed dead and authorities and loved ones fearing the toll will go much higher.

As scores of rescuers continue to use heavy machinery and power tools to clear the rubble from the top and tunnel in from below, the Noriega family still have hope she will be found alive.

“Some miracles are very big, others are small,” said Mike, 36, who last spoke to Hilda the day before the disaster.

They described Hilda as a fiercely independent and vivacious retiree — in Mike's words, “the youngest 92-year-old I know ... 92 going on 62.”

Hilda Noriega had called Champlain Towers South home for more than 20 years. But six years removed from her husband's death, she was ready to leave. The condo was up for sale, and her plan was to move in with family.

She had loved living near the ocean and friends, but “when you lose a spouse, you want to be surrounded by family ... and she wanted to spend more time with her family and grandchildren,” said Sally Noriega, Hilda's daughter-in-law.

Sally called Hilda a sweet, loving person who built a life with her husband and raised a family after coming to the U.S. from Cuba in 1960.

“She was just one of those people who from the first time she met a person she instantly loved that person, and that person instantly loved her,” Sally said.

Carlos Noriega, Hilda's son and police chief of nearby North Bay Village, was one of the emergency responders clambering atop the pile.

The Noriegas don't entirely know what to make of the treasured mementos found amid the chaos, but Sally said: “We are a family of faith. We’ll just leave it at that.”

They are among dozens of anguished families awaiting word on the fate of loved ones. The wait has been agonizing.

The atmosphere inside a hotel ballroom where around 200 family members were being briefed by authorities Saturday was tense, two people present told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the private conversations.

The two said families frustrated with the slow pace of recovery efforts had demanded they be allowed to go to the scene and attempt a collective shout — an attempt as much to find survivors as a cathartic farewell to those who had died.

The confirmed death toll rose to five Saturday as rescuers battled fire and smoke deep inside the heap in a race against time. With a sulfur-like stench hanging in the air, they used everything from trained dogs and sonar equipment to buckets and drones.

“Our top priority continues to be search-and-rescue and saving any lives that we can,” Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

The mayor said the identification of three bodies had dropped the number of people unaccounted for down to 156, and crews also discovered other unspecified human remains. The remains are being sent to the medical examiner, and authorities are gathering DNA samples from family members to aid in identification.

A video posted online showed an official briefing families. When he said they had found remains among the rubble, people began sobbing.

Late Saturday, four of the victims were identified, as Stacie Dawn Fang, 54; Antonio Lozano, 83, and Gladys Lozano, 79; and Manuel LaFont, 54.

The Paramount Miami Worldcenter tower in downtown Miami was also lit with the words “One World, One Prayer.” Organizers plan to light up the condo building with the message every night for two minutes on the hour until all victims of the Champlain Towers South collapse are accounted for.

Also late Saturday, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said a city official had led a cursory review of the nearby Champlain Towers North and Champlain Towers East buildings but “didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.”

The news came after word of a 2018 engineering report that showed the building, which was built in 1981, had “major structural damage” to a concrete slab below its pool deck that needed extensive repairs, part of a series of documents released by the city of Surfside.

While officials said no cause for the collapse early Thursday has been determined, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said a “definitive answer” was needed in a timely manner.

___

Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this report.

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A look at the deadly condo collapse in Florida

cincylink — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 04:17:48 +0000

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Search ongoing

Rescue workers search the site of the Champlain Towers South condo tower, Sunday, June 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

PHOTO: Wilfredo Lee

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Rescue workers

Rescue workers are seen on the site of the Champlain Towers South condo tower, Sunday, June 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

PHOTO: Marta Lavandier

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Loved ones mourn

Two men console each other on the beach near the site of the Champlain Towers South condo tower, Sunday, June 27, 2021. Nearly 150 people were still unaccounted for two days after the building partially collapsed on June 24. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

PHOTO: Marta Lavandier

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Prayer vigil

Women pray, late Saturday, June 26, 2021, during a prayer vigil for the victims and families of the Champlain Towers collapsed building in Surfside, Fla., at the nearby St. Joseph Catholic Church in Miami Beach, Fla. Many people were still unaccounted for two days after Thursday's fatal collapse. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

PHOTO: Wilfredo Lee

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Rescue continues

Rescue workers search the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condominium, Saturday, June 26, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami. The building partially collapsed on Thursday. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

PHOTO: Lynne Sladky

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Search team

The IDF’s delegation to Miami has landed. Members of our Home Front Command will provide assistance to the rescue crews operating at the site of the disaster.

PHOTO: Israeli Defense Force

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Search team

The IDF’s delegation to Miami provide assistance to the rescue crews operating at the site of the disaster.

PHOTO: Israeli Defense Force

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People react

People react near the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday, June 24. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

PHOTO: David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP

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Search team

Search and rescue personnel search for survivors through the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday, June 24. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

PHOTO: David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP

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Rubble

The rubble is seen at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday, June 24. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

PHOTO: David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP

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Search team

Search and rescue personnel search for survivors through the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday, June 24. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

PHOTO: David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP

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Search continues

Search and rescue personnel search for survivors through the rubble at the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside, Fla., Friday, June 25, 2021. The apartment building partially collapsed on Thursday, June 24. (David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP)

PHOTO: David Santiago/Miami Herald via AP

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Rubble

Search crews scour the remaining rubble after the June 24 collapse of a condo building in Surfside, Florida.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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The remaining rubble in Surfside, Florida, following the collapse of a 12-story condo. All available resources, including local assets from partner agencies, are being brought in to assist.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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Miami-Dade Fire Rescue continues to work tirelessly as search and rescue efforts are ongoing at the side of the building collapse.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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Rescue workers walk among the rubble where part of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

PHOTO: Marta Lavandier

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A bed dangles from a building that partially collapsed, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in Surfside, Fla. A wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed with a roar in a town outside Miami early Thursday, trapping residents in rubble and twisted metal. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

PHOTO: (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

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A rescue worker walks among the rubble where a wing of a 12-story beachfront condo building collapsed, Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

PHOTO: Lynne Sladky

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A partially collapsed building is seen early Thursday, June 24, 2021, in the Surfside area of Miami, Fla. A partial building collapse in Miami caused a massive response early Thursday. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

PHOTO: Wilfredo Lee

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Rubble hangs from a partially collapsed building in Surfside north of Miami Beach, on June 24, 2021. The multi-story apartment block in Florida partially collapsed early June 24, sparking a major emergency response. (Photo by Chandan Khanna / AFP) (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO: Chandan Khanna

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A Miami Beach Police Officer stands guard near a partially collapsed building a partially collapsed building in Surfside north of Miami Beach, on June 24, 2021. (Photo by Chandan Khanna / AFP) (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO: Chandan Khanna

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When Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews responded to reports of a building collapse early Thursday, they found the northeast corridor had partially collapsed. Approximately 55 apartment units were impacted by the collapse.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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Police stand guard near a partially collapsed building a partially collapsed building in Surfside north of Miami Beach, on June 24, 2021. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/ AFP) (Photo by Chandan Khanna /AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO: Chandan Khanna

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Albert Aguero, who took this picture, lived on the 11th floor of the collapsed building, according to ABC News.

PHOTO: Albert Aguero

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Family members and residents of the Champlain Towers South greet each other outside the Town of Surfside Community Center in Surfside, north of Miami Beach, on June 24, 2021. (Photo by Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

PHOTO: Chandan Khanna

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Search and rescue efforts are ongoing at the site of the partially collapsed condo building in Surfside, Florida. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews continue to search the building and the debris around the structure for any survivors.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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Search and rescue efforts are ongoing at the site of a 12-story building that partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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Household items could be seen amongst the rubble left behind after the 12-story building came crashing down early Thursday.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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The remaining portion of the Champlain Towers South is shown as rescue efforts began.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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Searchers are using saws and jackhammers to look for pockets amongst the rubble that would be large enough to hold a person.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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A family reunification center was set up Thursday for anyone looking for unaccounted or missing relatives. Anyone with family members that are unaccounted for or are safe should call 305-614-1819 to account for them.

PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue

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Many families have been devastated by the building collapse in Surfside.

PHOTO: @GovRonDeSantis

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First building collapse victim identified

cincylink — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 04:38:24 +0000

Video above: Alabama doctor among the missing in Miami condo collapseThe first victim of the Surfside building collapse was identified Friday. At least four people are dead and as many as 159 people are unaccounted for following the collapse of a residential building in Surfside, a town near Miami. The incident happened at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday. Thirty-five victims were pulled from the structure and two were pulled from the rubble Thursday, including a boy. Eleven patients are being treated for their injuries.Fire rescue officials said they have to be careful when searching because the part of the building that is still standing is also shifting.There are more than 80 rescue units on scene, according to fire rescue officials. Rescue dogs are also on the scene searching for people.

SURFSIDE, Fla. —

Video above: Alabama doctor among the missing in Miami condo collapse

The first victim of the Surfside building collapse was identified Friday.

At least four people are dead and as many as 159 people are unaccounted for following the collapse of a residential building in Surfside, a town near Miami. The incident happened at about 1:30 a.m. Thursday.

Thirty-five victims were pulled from the structure and two were pulled from the rubble Thursday, including a boy. Eleven patients are being treated for their injuries.

Fire rescue officials said they have to be careful when searching because the part of the building that is still standing is also shifting.

There are more than 80 rescue units on scene, according to fire rescue officials. Rescue dogs are also on the scene searching for people.
[related id='b7f83057-c7ec-4ee2-8686-c0f6ad3b5fe2' align='center'][/related

Stacie Dawn Fang, 54

Stacie Dawn Fang died of blunt force trauma following the building collapse Thursday, according to her death certificate. She was pronounced dead at 3:38 a.m. Thursday at Aventura Hospital & Medical Center.

Fang was the mother of the teen pulled from the rubble Thursday, according to officials.

Her family released the following statement:

“There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie. The members of the Fang and Handler family would like to express our deepest appreciation for the outpouring of sympathy, compassion and support we have received. The many heartfelt words of encouragement and love have served as a much needed source of strength during this devastating time. On behalf of Stacie’s son, Jonah, we ask you now to please respect our privacy to grieve and to try to help each other heal.”

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Search teams are using a variety of technological tools at the site of the Florida condo collapse

cincylink — Sun, 27 Jun 2021 04:28:41 +0000

Search teams have been using drones, sonar, highly sensitive microphones and a range of other new and established technologies to help search for people in the oceanside condominium building near Miami that collapsed into a smoldering pile of rubble.Will any of it help?About 160 people were still unaccounted for Friday amid fears that the death toll of at least four could go much higher.WHAT TECHNOLOGIES HAVE PROVEN USEFUL IN SUCH COLLAPSES?The most common, time-tested technologies used to try to locate survivors in rubble are acoustic detection and sniffer dogs.Aerial drones equipped with cameras and other sensors can be useful to get a close look at the collapse, especially in the earliest stages of a search to help rescuers know where it's safe to enter. Data from smartphones and telecommunications carriers can show if a missing person was in the area — and cellphone-detecting gadgets can pick up a phone’s signals, as long as it hasn’t been destroyed.Joana Gaia, a professor of management science and systems at the University of Buffalo, said it's common for search teams to use radar and microwaves that bounce off objects and can identify people and objects. She said it's similar to the technology in cars that beeps when you're close to hitting something backing up.That can be more useful than cell phone geolocation, especially when speed is of the essence. In a disaster situation, data is only useful if it can be interpreted quickly.“Responders are operating on a speed rather than accuracy standpoint,” she said. “They think, ‘If I think a body is there I don’t care how accurate the signal is, I’m just going to try to go save the person.’”WHAT ARE MIAMI RESCUERS USING NOW?Search and rescue teams worked through the night hoping to detect any sounds coming from survivors.The crews, which include some 130 firefighters working in teams, are approaching the pile from above and below as they search for any signs of life in what had been a wing of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida.They've said they are using sonar, cameras and sensitive microphones. Microphones, though, won't pick up cries for help if a trapped, unseen victim is unconscious but alive, because there won't be any.Neighboring communities have shared their drones, and at least one company is shipping a ground robot from California to help with the search as crews work to tunnel underneath the building.“Once you get into that subterranean realm, ground robotics become incredibly useful,” said David Proulx, a vice president of unmanned systems at Teledyne FLIR, a defense contractor that specializes in thermal sensing. “It can safely go where humans can’t.”DO THEY STILL USE DOGS TO SNIFF OUT SURVIVORS?Search and rescue operations use two types of dogs on disaster scenes, both trained to detect human scent, said Mark Neveau, a former FEMA presidential appointee and disaster expert. First, there are dogs trained to pick up the scent of live bodies, but as the operation shifts to a recovery operation, cadaver-sniffing dogs take the field.A drawback with dogs is that they tend to tire with time, and can get confused.Chemical tracing devices are being developed that also pick up on scents that humans can’t detect, but these haven’t replaced dogs yet. These are portable labs that can analyze chemical traces and gas. They use sensors to detect moisture, carbon dioxide, or any chemicals emitted through breathing, like acetone or ammonia, said the University of Buffalo's Gaia.“It’s almost like a mechanical sniffing dog, that can be trained to smell things we can’t,” she said.WHAT OTHER TECHNOLOGIES COULD PROVE USEFUL IN THE FUTURE?Drones and ground robots are already used in search operations, but the most sophisticated machines are still expensive, hard to come by and rarely as fast as the skilled human rescuers controlling them. That could change as they become smarter, more nimble and a standard part of search and rescue operations.“It will be part of the kit that first responders have,” said Proulx, of Teledyne FLIR. “The operation of those drones and robots will be progressively more autonomous. They will be much more independent and operate as teammates rather than tools.”One technology available to the responders — but not on the scene Friday — is a microwave radar device developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and the Department of Homeland Security that “sees” through concrete slabs, detecting the signatures of human respiration and heartbeats.A prototype saved four lives after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and it was used two years later in Mexico City. Its developers say it provides an edge over acoustics, the usual method for detecting people in rubble, because disaster sites tend to be noisy.“Noise doesn’t affect us and we can see through smoke,” said Adrian Garulay, the CEO of SpecOps Group, a Sarasota, Florida company that sells the technology under license. Although it can penetrate up to eight inches of solid concrete it cannot see through metal, he said. It uses a low-powered microwave signal about one-thousandth the strength of a cellphone signal and evolved from NASA’s efforts to develop low-cost, small spacecraft radios.

Search teams have been using drones, sonar, highly sensitive microphones and a range of other new and established technologies to help search for people in the oceanside condominium building near Miami that collapsed into a smoldering pile of rubble.

Will any of it help?

About 160 people were still unaccounted for Friday amid fears that the death toll of at least four could go much higher.

WHAT TECHNOLOGIES HAVE PROVEN USEFUL IN SUCH COLLAPSES?

The most common, time-tested technologies used to try to locate survivors in rubble are acoustic detection and sniffer dogs.

Aerial drones equipped with cameras and other sensors can be useful to get a close look at the collapse, especially in the earliest stages of a search to help rescuers know where it's safe to enter. Data from smartphones and telecommunications carriers can show if a missing person was in the area — and cellphone-detecting gadgets can pick up a phone’s signals, as long as it hasn’t been destroyed.

Joana Gaia, a professor of management science and systems at the University of Buffalo, said it's common for search teams to use radar and microwaves that bounce off objects and can identify people and objects. She said it's similar to the technology in cars that beeps when you're close to hitting something backing up.

That can be more useful than cell phone geolocation, especially when speed is of the essence. In a disaster situation, data is only useful if it can be interpreted quickly.

“Responders are operating on a speed rather than accuracy standpoint,” she said. “They think, ‘If I think a body is there I don’t care how accurate the signal is, I’m just going to try to go save the person.’”

WHAT ARE MIAMI RESCUERS USING NOW?

Search and rescue teams worked through the night hoping to detect any sounds coming from survivors.

The crews, which include some 130 firefighters working in teams, are approaching the pile from above and below as they search for any signs of life in what had been a wing of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida.

They've said they are using sonar, cameras and sensitive microphones. Microphones, though, won't pick up cries for help if a trapped, unseen victim is unconscious but alive, because there won't be any.

Neighboring communities have shared their drones, and at least one company is shipping a ground robot from California to help with the search as crews work to tunnel underneath the building.

“Once you get into that subterranean realm, ground robotics become incredibly useful,” said David Proulx, a vice president of unmanned systems at Teledyne FLIR, a defense contractor that specializes in thermal sensing. “It can safely go where humans can’t.”

DO THEY STILL USE DOGS TO SNIFF OUT SURVIVORS?

Search and rescue operations use two types of dogs on disaster scenes, both trained to detect human scent, said Mark Neveau, a former FEMA presidential appointee and disaster expert. First, there are dogs trained to pick up the scent of live bodies, but as the operation shifts to a recovery operation, cadaver-sniffing dogs take the field.

A drawback with dogs is that they tend to tire with time, and can get confused.

Chemical tracing devices are being developed that also pick up on scents that humans can’t detect, but these haven’t replaced dogs yet. These are portable labs that can analyze chemical traces and gas. They use sensors to detect moisture, carbon dioxide, or any chemicals emitted through breathing, like acetone or ammonia, said the University of Buffalo's Gaia.

“It’s almost like a mechanical sniffing dog, that can be trained to smell things we can’t,” she said.

WHAT OTHER TECHNOLOGIES COULD PROVE USEFUL IN THE FUTURE?

Drones and ground robots are already used in search operations, but the most sophisticated machines are still expensive, hard to come by and rarely as fast as the skilled human rescuers controlling them. That could change as they become smarter, more nimble and a standard part of search and rescue operations.

“It will be part of the kit that first responders have,” said Proulx, of Teledyne FLIR. “The operation of those drones and robots will be progressively more autonomous. They will be much more independent and operate as teammates rather than tools.”

One technology available to the responders — but not on the scene Friday — is a microwave radar device developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and the Department of Homeland Security that “sees” through concrete slabs, detecting the signatures of human respiration and heartbeats.

A prototype saved four lives after the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and it was used two years later in Mexico City. Its developers say it provides an edge over acoustics, the usual method for detecting people in rubble, because disaster sites tend to be noisy.

“Noise doesn’t affect us and we can see through smoke,” said Adrian Garulay, the CEO of SpecOps Group, a Sarasota, Florida company that sells the technology under license. Although it can penetrate up to eight inches of solid concrete it cannot see through metal, he said. It uses a low-powered microwave signal about one-thousandth the strength of a cellphone signal and evolved from NASA’s efforts to develop low-cost, small spacecraft radios.

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