What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

150+ people unaccounted for in Miami Beach/Surfside Collapse of Apt/Condo Building...Death Toll rising (1 Viewer)

Ministry of Pain said:
Video tells it all

Horrific to even imagine, I used to live in the Marlboro House a few blocks down from Surfside, my 1st teaching assignment was around this area of Miami Beach when I lived in Biscayne Park.  Crazy photos, looks like a bomb went off. 
Click to expand...
Officials fear there will be many casualties after Surfside building ‘pancaked’ during collapse

The roof was being repaired on the 40-year old 12-story building. Also, the much taller building to the south had just been built. The former mayor of Surfside who was rescued from the collapsed building said there was a lot of vibration in building during the construction of the taller building. Another theory on the collapse is that 40 years of corrosion due to salt spray make have weakened the building. There are likely dozens of deaths. One woman's leg had to be amputated to be rescued. Ivanka Trump lives just a few buildings north of the Champlain Towers, but she is still on a road trip. 

 
been wondering if there was some run-up and people were able to be evacuated before the building came down. doesn't seem to be the case :(

 
Man, this hits home. Know the neighborhood from my teens. Sending positive vibes for finding survivors.

 
Minimum of 30-40 units went down, maybe a lot more.  If it's only 51 people it will be fortunate.

I don't remember anything like this that's nearly as large.  Just awful.

 
Maybe it's just the angle, but I can't believe how flat it appears. You'd expect a taller pile or rubble but it just looks like someone broke down a cardboard box. Scary stuff.

 
johnnycakes said:
Nasty.  Here's a before-and-after aerial photo.  https://bostonglobe-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/yU6OwQww6ZG5yOtNm0eUr1u29Mg=/1280x0/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/bostonglobe/R6ICF62EMZFURJI47ZWVO2SXEA.jpg
Click to expand...


Nathan R. Jessep said:
I was thinking the same thing. 

Just awful. 
Click to expand...


JaxBill said:
@BrianEntin: Surveillance video shows the Surfside, FL condo building collapse.
A large section collapses -- then seconds later another section collapses.
Video credit: Andy Slater https://twitter.com/BrianEntin/status/1408074076669857802/video/1
Click to expand...
it's crazy, how the building fell.  it's as if, it was done by professional demolition people.  it doesn't look like there's anything in the pool.  just nuts.

 
Dinsy Ejotuz said:
Minimum of 30-40 units went down, maybe a lot more.  If it's only 51 people it will be fortunate.

I don't remember anything like this that's nearly as large.  Just awful.
Click to expand...
It would be a miracle if even 2 people survived out of that rubble.

jobarules said:
How is that even possible?
Click to expand...
It isn't all that uncommon in other countries.  I'd imagine construction in a high water table, hurricane prone region like that would be susceptible if not done very, very well.  The building was built in the early 80's, so it should have been done right.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
TLEF316 said:
Maybe it's just the angle, but I can't believe how flat it appears. You'd expect a taller pile or rubble but it just looks like someone broke down a cardboard box. Scary stuff.
Click to expand...
This artical has some helicopter video.  There are some shots from the side. The pile looks to be about 1.5 stories high, so maybe 15'.  The floors are likely flat slab concrete, probably 10" each floor with columns spaced out.  Headline also seems to have updated the missing to 99

 
Have they ruled out any sort of explosion (either accidentally or terrorism)?

I ask because I see reports of a "loud bang/boom".

 
SoBeDad said:
Officials fear there will be many casualties after Surfside building ‘pancaked’ during collapse

The roof was being repaired on the 40-year old 12-story building. Also, the much taller building to the south had just been built. The former mayor of Surfside who was rescued from the collapsed building said there was a lot of vibration in building during the construction of the taller building. Another theory on the collapse is that 40 years of corrosion due to salt spray make have weakened the building. There are likely dozens of deaths. One woman's leg had to be amputated to be rescued. Ivanka Trump lives just a few buildings north of the Champlain Towers, but she is still on a road trip. 
Click to expand...
Seems relevant 

 
Looking at the google streetview, the half of the building that collapsed has underground parking, so that would help the explain why the pile looks so small.  The debris pile actually goes down another 10'.

 
DA RAIDERS said:
it's crazy, how the building fell.  it's as if, it was done by professional demolition people.  it doesn't look like there's anything in the pool.  just nuts.
Click to expand...
Buildings are designed to come down. It's part of the architect's job to design it in a way that it can be demo'd when the time comes, although presumably in the far future. So it was likely intentionally built to completely pancake flat when the supports were destroyed. The question is whether that was done intentionally, or, by some combination of weather wear and/or construction damage caused the supports to fail. But I wouldn't assume that just because it did what it's supposed to do means that the reason was intentional and not accidental. 

 
Runkle said:
Buildings are designed to come down. It's part of the architect's job to design it in a way that it can be demo'd when the time comes, although presumably in the far future. So it was likely intentionally built to completely pancake flat when the supports were destroyed. The question is whether that was done intentionally, or, by some combination of weather wear and/or construction damage caused the supports to fail. But I wouldn't assume that just because it did what it's supposed to do means that the reason was intentional and not accidental. 
Click to expand...
i am in no way, what so ever, implying that this was done intentionally.  i'm just amazed that it fell in that manner.  it barely exceeds it's original foot print.

 
Spend a lot of time in S Beach and often wonder about the look of some of those old buildings...although they’re typical 40 years older than this one I think. Terrible ....

 
USA Today reporting that engineers discovered the building had been sinking by 2 millimeters a year since the 1990s. That pace may have increased since the original measurements were done. 

 
Runkle said:
USA Today reporting that engineers discovered the building had been sinking by 2 millimeters a year since the 1990s. That pace may have increased since the original measurements were done. 
Click to expand...
I wonder about the impact the construction of the  building just south of the 12-story Champlain Towers South, 87 Park.  It's 18 stories tall and a resident of Champlain Towers, the former mayor who was rescued by ladder from his 3rd floor balcony, said there was vibration in the building during the construction, which was completed last year. Per local architect Kobi Karp, the method of construction used in this building has been used for 100 years. Kobi says the structure failed in the middle of the building, and was not likely due to something that happened just before collapse (like a deliberate act).

The Penthouse of 87 Park sold for a disappointing 37 million last October. It had 300 foundation pilings, probably very deep. 

Many of the  missing residents were members of the Shul of Bal Harbor, which is the reason Ivanka Trump rented a huge unit in a new condo a couple of blocks north. Many other residents were part of prominent families from Latin America.

 
eoMMan said:
Have they ruled out any sort of explosion (either accidentally or terrorism)?

I ask because I see reports of a "loud bang/boom".
Click to expand...
Looking at the video you don't see anything that would suggest this.  It looks like it just collapsed.

Amazing (in an awful way).  You just don't see this kind of thing in the US.  That looks like news you'd see from Cairo or Sana'a.

 
Sand said:
Looking at the video you don't see anything that would suggest this.  It looks like it just collapsed.

Amazing (in an awful way).  You just don't see this kind of thing in the US.  That looks like news you'd see from Cairo or Sana'a.
Click to expand...
A theory:  maybe beach sand (with salt) was used during the construction of the  building. Here's an article from the Miami Herald in 2002, with speculation that unscrupulous contractors may have used beach sand contributing to failing and unsafe balconies. External concrete restoration is big business in coastal Florida.

http://www.ccfj.net/condoartbalcony.htm

 
SoBeDad said:
A theory:  maybe beach sand (with salt) was used during the construction of the  building. Here's an article from the Miami Herald in 2002, with speculation that unscrupulous contractors may have used beach sand contributing to failing and unsafe balconies. External concrete restoration is big business in coastal Florida.

http://www.ccfj.net/condoartbalcony.htm
Click to expand...
As someone who just sold a gulf front beach house I can say with certainty that salt eats bloody everything.  No idea what caused this, but certainly on the beach you have to think about corrosion issues being a strong possibility.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
This story is all around awful, the timing of when it collapsed, zero warning, all of it adds up to terrible. 

 
Mrs. Rannous said:
Could also be a sinkhole.  The construction next door may have accelerated whatever process was involved.  Ugh.
Click to expand...
Good Evening, I wanted to share something you might find interesting and I only know about this because I am a Native here in Florida but I am very aware of these sinkholes, we had one in the Tampa area swallowed an entire house but as this map i am going to link will show, rarely if ever do sinkholes happen in South Florida including Dade County vs Hillsborough County which is where Tampa Bay is. 

Sinkhole Maps

Hillsborough vs Miami-Dade

I was amazed when i learned this a while back and hard to believe but most of the sink holes happen around Central Florida in that lovely city of Orlando just look at the number of sinkholes they have had over the years around there. 

 
boilerdave said:
What? I’ve worked with architects and structural engineers for a long time and never heard anything about that. 
Click to expand...
My thoughts as well, seeing how I went to college to be an Architect and came out as a Structural Engineer.  At no point in my classes, or actual building design have we ever designed something "to come down".   There is a modern push to "deconstruct a building" when it has reached its lifespan rather than turn it into a pile of debris, to try and keep more of the materials in a way they could be reused. But buildings aren't being built (especially in a hurricane zone) to have a built in weak point that would allow them to collapse easier.

 
Terrible.  I can't imagine what it would be like to have a loved one that lived in that building be unaccounted for.

 
Id have to google it, but iirc there was a collapse in S Korea of a larger building like this...again, iirc, linked to work on the roof putting a concentrated dead load over structure that ultimately couldnt support it.

 
And the stupid CBS reporter asked one of the safety officials there, "Why aren't you in there with cranes pulling this debris pile apart looking for survivors?"  The look on the guy's face was shock and then he recovered to explain how the minute you start messing with the pile of debris, it will shift and any pockets that may be there, will collapse.  

Plus I can't imagine too many people want to be anywhere near that building. When you look at it, there are AC units and furniture just hanging by a thread just waiting to come down. 

 
El Floppo said:
As an architect, I can honestly say I've never heard this.
Click to expand...
Yeah - this is a car thing, not a building thing.  There's a reason that lots of explosives are used in building demolition.

Courtjester said:
And the stupid CBS reporter asked one of the safety officials there, "Why aren't you in there with cranes pulling this debris pile apart looking for survivors?"  The look on the guy's face was shock and then he recovered to explain how the minute you start messing with the pile of debris, it will shift and any pockets that may be there, will collapse.  

Plus I can't imagine too many people want to be anywhere near that building. When you look at it, there are AC units and furniture just hanging by a thread just waiting to come down. 
Click to expand...
🙄

Kids with liberal arts degrees becoming journalists...

Fact is when this stuff happens around the world the US will export experts and dogs to help.  We have some seriously good people that I'm sure are working this around the clock.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

(HULK)
Dave Berry's Year in Review
Replies
2
Views
781
Joe Summer
J

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top