What made a 12-storey Florida condominium collapse?
- The Champlain Towers South building in Surfside that partially went down was in the midst of its 40-year recertification process
- Saltwater intrusion and rising sea levels could have played a role in the deadly disaster that has left at least four people dead
The Champlain Towers South building in Surfside that partially went down was in the midst of its 40-year recertification process, which requires detailed structural and electrical inspections.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said in an interview on Friday said he wasn’t sure the inspection had been completed but may contain vital clues to the deadly disaster.
“It should have been a very straightforward thing,” Burkett said. “Buildings in America do not just fall down like this. There is a reason. We need to find out what that reason is.”
The 12-storey tower’s collapse has left at least four people dead, 159 missing as of Friday and numerous questions about how this could have happened – and whether other similar buildings are in danger.
Details of the Champlain Towers recertification inspection will be made public once they are completed, Surfside town clerk Sandra McCready said in an email. The engineer involved in the building’s recertification process, Frank Morabito, did not respond to telephone messages and emails requesting comment on Friday.