What do we know about the collapse?

A portion of Champlain Towers South, north of Miami Beach, collapsed about 1:30 a.m. June 24. Fifty-five of the building’s 136 units were destroyed, with many residents inside still in their beds. The collapse happened in 11 seconds , leaving a cloud of gray dust billowing over a massive pile of concrete, steel and other debris.

Are people still searching for survivors?

No. Two weeks after the collapse, the massive search effort at the site shifted from rescue to recovery. Officials said crews will continue to hunt for victims and are hoping to provide some closure to families. Speaking on the two-week anniversary of the collapse, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava noted that crews were working with “speed and urgency” in locating victims, saying they were “taking as much care as ever in finding victims in the rubble.” “May God give peace to all those whose hearts have been broken and watch over and care for those in this community in the difficult days and months ahead,” the mayor said at a news conference.

Was anyone rescued from the collapsed building?

About 35 people were removed from the wreckage in the hours after the building collapsed; all but one survived. A 15-year-old boy was among those rescued early in the morning of the collapse. Video shows him being pulled from the beachfront building’s rubble, and his family said he was hospitalized without serious injuries. Fire department officials said the search for survivors was initially complicated by small fires erupting in the debris, but firefighters eventually contained the blaze. Officials said rescue workers were also in the tower’s basement parking garage , where there was heavy damage and constantly changing conditions.

What caused the collapse?

Officials have launched an aggressive push to understand why Champlain Towers South collapsed, bringing in engineers to conduct an autopsy of the tower. Allyn Kilsheimer, a veteran engineer who investigated the 1995 Oklahoma City federal building bombing and the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, will conduct an autopsy of the tower. Kilsheimer said he will examine the foundation, concrete, leaks, groundwater and possible intrusion of saltwater. In many cases, he said, collapses are caused by a combination of factors. Henry Koffman, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Southern California who has worked in forensic engineering for nearly 30 years, estimated that the collapse investigation would take six to 12 months. City officials provided documents June 25, the night after the collapse, that showed an engineer warned in October 2018 that he had discovered “major structural damage” to a concrete slab below the pool deck in a section of the Champlain Towers South condominium building. The engineer, Frank P. Morabito, said in a structural survey report that waterproofing had failed below a pool deck and parking garage, allowing damaging leaks. “Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” Morabito wrote. He said a “major error” had been made in the original waterproofing. The building was undergoing more recent inspections. Champlain Towers South passed a roof inspection a day before the collapse, Surfside Vice Mayor Tina Paul told The Washington Post . Kenneth Direktor, an attorney for the building’s condominium association, said it also recently underwent a routine inspection, which is required once structures hit the 40-year mark. The Post has not yet reviewed a copy of that report. Direktor called its findings “fairly typical” for a building of its age, adding that there was nothing that pointed to issues of structural integrity. “Something horrible happened,” Direktor told The Post . “This isn’t the result of hairline cracks in the concrete.” According to a 2020 research paper , the structure, which was built on reclaimed wetlands, has been sinking since the 1990s. Shimon Wdowinski, one of the paper’s authors, told USA Today that researchers found the building had “some kind of unusual movement.” “I looked at it this morning and said, ‘Oh my God.’ We did detect that,” Wdowinski told the paper. Officials have not commented on the report’s findings. Some local residents have expressed concerns over the stability of their buildings. “I am afraid that there could be some issue in our building that will result in what we saw in Champlain Towers South,” Robert Lisman, who lives in Champlain Towers East, told WPLG . Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett suggested residents evacuate Champlain Towers North , a sister building of the partially collapsed condo. Both the north and south Champlain Towers were completed in 1981, although the north building has 25 fewer units. Champlain Towers East was completed in 1994. “I can’t say I’d be excited about staying in that building myself,” Burkett said.

Is there any information about the victims?

The building’s residents reflected Miami-Dade County’s diversity. Among those missing are citizens of Argentina, Paraguay, Colombia, Venezuela and potentially up to 20 from Israel, although Israeli authorities later said they believe the number to be lower. Relatives of Silvana López Moreira, the first lady of Paraguay, are among the missing. A synagogue near the collapsed tower, the Shul, also released a list of members who are missing. Brad Cohen, an orthopedic surgeon, remains unaccounted for, along with Arnie Notkin, a well-known physical education teacher. Adriana Chi told The Post that her brother, Edgar Gonzalez, a 45-year-old lawyer, was among the missing. He was home with his wife and daughter when the building collapsed, she said. The wife and daughter were hospitalized, but Gonzalez still had not been located as of Thursday. “I’m just trying to find somebody who can tell me if they saw him or where he is,” Chi said. Lindsey Bever, Hannah Knowles, Caroline Anders, Paulina Firozi, Steven Mufson, Lori Rozsa, Meryl Kornfield, Darryl Fears and Lateshia Beachum contributed to this report.

National

What you need to know about the Florida condo collapse as the search for survivors continues and probe begins

By Gina Harkins

July 10, 2021 at 1:11 p.m. EDT

People look at a portion of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building that partially collapsed on June 24 in Surfside, Fla. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

4 min

The recovery effort in Surfside, Fla., continues at the site of a condo building collapse that killed at least 86 people and left dozens more others unaccounted for.

Engineers have begun investigating the cause of the collapse, but officials say determining what led the 40-year-old 12-story building to partially fall will take time.

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Here’s what you need to know about the situation:

Miami-Dade condo collapse: The latest coverage

Latest: Demolition crews wrapping up preparations to topple what’s left of collapsed Florida condo

Visual investigation: Video, images and interviews deepen questions about role of pool deck in condo collapse

Exclusive: Majority of Florida condo board quit in 2019 as squabbling residents dragged out plans for repairs

Floor by floor map: The shattered lives of Champlain Towers South

FAQ: What you need to know as the search for survivors continues | Video timeline: How it happened

‘They were on their balconies, screaming’: The crucial minutes before and after collapse