In the early morning of the 24th local time, the Champlain Building South Tower Apartment Building in Surfside Town, Miami-Dade County, Florida, usa, partially collapsed, causing 5 deaths and 159 people missing. On Saturday (26th), local time, rescue work was blocked after a serious fire broke out under the rubble.
In the early morning of the 24th local time, the Champlain Building South Tower Apartment Building in Surfside Town, Miami-Dade County, Florida, usa, partially collapsed, causing 5 deaths and 159 people missing. Pictured according to BBC News
Meanwhile, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett advised residents of the apartment's sister building, the Champlain Tower North Tower, to evacuate immediately, as the building was almost identical to the 12-story apartment building that collapsed on Thursday (24th). Burkett said that while engineers found no serious defects during Saturday's initial inspection of the champlain Tower's north tower, the inspection did not go deep into the building itself.
It is reported that the comprehensive investigation of the incident will be opened after the end of the rescue operation. Florida Governor Ron de Santis promised that authorities would "look it all through." But professionals say it could take months or even more than a year to fully figure out what caused the building to collapse.
However, the US media found in a series of related documents published in surfside town in the past two days that as early as three years ago, someone had "sounded the alarm" about the potential danger of the building.
Warned of "significant flaws" 3 years ago
Just before the collapse was a "thorough inspection"
According to US media reports, in October 2018, a structural engineering consulting firm called Morabito warned in a report to the Champlain Tower South Tower Condominium Association that the original design of the apartment building had "major flaws", its waterproof layer was tiled, and the reinforced concrete slabs did not tilt the drainage, resulting in the accumulation of water that could only stay on the waterproof material until it evaporated.
The report also noted "significant structural damage" to the concrete platforms under the pool deck and cautioned: "The failure of the waterproofing layer has caused significant structural damage to the concrete structural slabs below these areas." If the waterproofing material cannot be replaced in the near future, the degree of deterioration of concrete will increase exponentially."
Inspection reports three years ago noted "significant structural damage" to the concrete platforms under the building's pool deck. According to the Wall Street Journal
In addition, the walls, columns and beams of the apartment's underground parking lot were already "massive" cracks and broken at the time the report was written, and the report also noted that "most of the concrete damage needs to be repaired in time".
Although the report did not mention the risk of collapse of the apartment, it urged that repairs to these problems need to be completed in order to "maintain the structural integrity of the building". The company also provided a cost estimate for the building's "extensive and necessary repairs" at the time.
On the evening of the 25th, the report and other documents about the building were published by surfside Town on its official website. More documents released by the town on Saturday showed that an apartment association administrator forwarded the report in November 2018 to Rosendo Prieto, a former Surfside construction official, suggesting that at least one member of the government knew there was a problem with the apartment building.
Confusingly, however, according to the Town Council of Surfside, Morabito also wrote another 14-page report over the same period, citing an inspection that began on August 1, 2018 and was completed in early September, saying that five indicators assessed the building's "good condition" and noted that the apartment building had no obvious problems such as expansion and settlement. The report also mentioned the waterproofing problem, but called the cracks in the concrete frame system "not serious."
Surfside town officials said they didn't receive the 14-page report from engineering company president Frank Morabito until Thursday night, after the building collapsed. Subsequently, the town posted the report on its website along with other documents related to the building, but specifically labeled it as an "unconfirmed report", which was not formally submitted, not authorized by the owner, and the report was not dated.
The two reports of the engineering company appear to have a contradictory message, that is, the urgency of solving the problem, US media said. Engineers and real estate professionals who read the report noted that the problems mentioned in the report may indeed have contributed to the collapse, but they did not find wording at the time to indicate that the building was in imminent danger.
Residents stand on the balcony of the champlain Tower's North Tower on June 26. According to the Washington Post
Jesse Keenan, an associate professor at the Durran School of Architecture in New Orleans, said that from the October 2018 report, it was clear that the structural elements of the champlain Tower's south tower had been flooded and completely degraded, which he believed undermined the integrity of the building structure. Roberto Leon, a professor of architectural engineering at Virginia Tech and an expert on structural damage, also said the engineering firm's list of water intrusion problems could be one of a range of factors that caused damage to the building.
Surfside town official Eliana Salhaor questioned whether the land beneath the collapsed building had been damaged. "I think it's related to sea level rise and our overexploitation," she said. ”
In June 2020, the Champlain Tower South Tower Condominium Association again hired Morabito to prepare a building maintenance plan for a 40-year "recertification" with plans to undergo a multimillion-dollar renovation this year.
Officials also confirmed that the apartment building was undergoing a "recertification" process at the time of the collapse. Kenneth Dirick totor, an attorney for the Condominium Association of the South Tower of the Champlain Building, said the building had recently undergone a "thorough inspection" to complete the 40-year "recertification" and was currently being replaced with a roof replacement and other repairs planned. Dirick totor said the inspection had been completed with reports confirming that rusty steel and damaged concrete needed to be repaired, but he said there was "nothing in the report to indicate a life safety issue."
According to the latest news, the owners have filed a class action lawsuit against the Champlain Tower South Tower Condominium Association. The lawsuit said the disaster could have been avoided "by implementing routine maintenance, safety measures and oversight" and accused condominium associations of failing to disclose information about safety measures and oversight, nor of monitoring the stability of the building.
Collapse or early warning of imminent danger
U.S. coasts are experiencing a "slow-motion crisis"
It is reported that after the rescue operation, the investigation of the collapse accident will be fully launched.
In a paper published in April 2020 by Simon Wowinsky, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University, satellite imagery showed a 12-story apartment building in the eastern Miami Beach area sinking at a rate of about two millimeters per year between 1993 and 1999. In an interview on Thursday, Vovynski said the paper was about the south tower of the Champlain Building, where the collapse had occurred.
But Vwinsky points out that the study is only a temporal snapshot and does not mean that the sinking is a deterministic factor that led to the collapse event, "which seems to be a local problem of a building, so I think the problem is more likely to be related to the building itself."
Other experts say the sinking of houses has been a concern because the building was built on reclaimed wetlands, as the land below becomes tighter over time, leading to changes in the structure of the building.
The collapse of the south tower of the Champlain Building frightened the residents living in the champlain North Tower, and the same question kept popping into their minds: "Will the building I live in be the next (collapsed)?" ”
And that's a big concern for many South Florida residents, especially those living in older waterfront buildings, who face external conditions similar to those of the Champlain Tower's South Tower: salty air, rising sea levels, aging concrete...
The collapse of the south tower of the Champlain Building could be a wake-up call for U.S. coastal towns.
Foreign media said that the collapse of the south tower of the Champlain Building may sound a wake-up call for coastal towns in the United States. According to The New York Times
Over the past few decades, Miami and nearby beach communities have been plagued by sharp sea level rises. According to an analysis of federal data by the Capital Weather Gang, sea levels in the region have risen nearly 6 inches since the mid-1990s. Over the past 23 years, this has led to a 320% surge in the number of floods in the region. According to a new master plan released by the City of Miami in April, the city will have to spend nearly $4 billion over the next 40 years to protect the city from flooding caused by rising sea levels.
Because Miami is porous limestone underground, rising water can easily penetrate the ground, causing flooding even on sunny days and at high tide. Groundwater surge threatens freshwater supplies and septic tank systems, which are already depleting miami-Dade County. The constant expansion of groundwater due to climate change, combined with changing tidal cycles, has caused coastal buildings and their concrete foundations to stay in the water longer than in the past.
Albert Schlapp, CEO of RiskFootprint, which assesses the fragility of buildings, said: "This is a tragic, devastating event, and it could be an early warning sign that danger is imminent. It's not just one building, this can affect other buildings. ”
Shrap also noted that many coastal buildings built on sandy soil with underground parking lots have relied entirely on 24/7 sewage pumps to keep groundwater out. However, once groundwater enters the pores of concrete, it weakens and erodes it. "As a result, the foundation is subject to a lot of geological forces that may compact the soil below and create cavities." We just don't know. ”
Surfside Town Beach overlooks. According to The New York Times
Faced with rising sea levels and flooding, many communities have pledged to strictly check the safety of buildings. Miami-Dade County Governor Daniel Levine Kava announced Saturday morning that all buildings in the county that five floors and above, 40 years and older, will be reviewed over the next 30 days.
Sunny Isles Vice Mayor Svechin, located 5 miles north of the collapsed building, said the city plans to conduct an independent review of every building over three stories. It is reported that the city has a number of luxury apartment buildings of 50 floors and above.
Carl Pucci, founder and president of satellite data analytics company EO59, noted that the U.S. coast is experiencing a "slow-motion crisis." Currently, his company is scrutinizing data from every building in Surfside to determine if the ground has moved, and to what extent.
Red Star News reporter Xu Huan
Edited by Guo Yu
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