topic CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES! in Community Chat

CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

Anonymous032819 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:14:27 GMT

This happened overnight, but a condo building in Miami partially collapsed. One side of the building is just gone.

From pictures, it fell from the top down.

They don't know how many are injured, or have died, or what caused the collaspse.

I just heard that there is one confirmed death, and they pulled one boy out alive.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

tototwo — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:18:12 GMT

I've been following this story on the news this morning. What causes a building to just collapse? People were sleeping in their apartments and it just falls? The building was built in 1981, so not terribly old. Were there warning signs?

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

Anonymous032819 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:28:23 GMT

@tototwo wrote:
I've been following this story on the news this morning. What causes a building to just collapse? People were sleeping in their apartments and it just falls? The building was built in 1981, so not terribly old. Were there warning signs?

@tototwo

My first thought is that when it was built, somebody decided to cut corners to save money. But that's a total and complete guess on my part.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

LindaSal — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:39:53 GMT

That's exactly what my husband said to me, shotty construction in the 80's........praying for those who are trapped under the rubble.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

decaf — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:42:56 GMT

I live about an hour from there. The condo buildings and homes in S Fl are made of concrete block and concrete with steel rebar imbedded in the concrete. The building pancaked only on the ocean side, the apartments on the street side are intact. I suspect this was an engineering error when it was built, rebar is well known to corrode and fail from salt air near the ocean.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

gardenman — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 11:45:42 GMT

What caused it to collapse? Way too early to say for sure, but it appears to have been a largely concrete structure, likely made with post-tensioned concrete. Post-tensioned concrete is very strong but its strength depends on the tensioned steel rebar/cable that gives it strength staying tensioned. When that tension fails, so does the concrete. In an environment like Miami where corrosion from airborne seawater mist can create corrosion, it's possible the rebar/cables deteriorated to the point where the tension failed and the structure collapsed. That would be my initial thought.

If there was an underground parking garage (unlikely in Miami, but you never know) then I'd also be looking at the possibility that a vehicle hit and damaged one of the structural members in the garage. Being in Florida there's also the possibility of a sinkhole developing in the wrong place.

A failure in the post-tensioned concrete would still be my prime suspect. Those types of structures are unlikely to age well in a marine-type environment. Forty years of exposure to saltier air tends not to be good for steel. Post-tensioned members tend to leave some steel exposed to the atmosphere and corrosion becomes an issue. The steel cables often used as tensioners are especially susceptible to issues as they're made up of individual wire strands woven together. Those strands can almost act like a wick allowing moisture to enter deep into the concrete. Rebar is much less wick-like, but even that can fail in those types of environments.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

Katcat1 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 12:46:25 GMT

How does this happen in America? Using cheaper materials? Mistakes by engineers? This is awful and I hope there are no more casualties.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

ROMARY — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 13:32:30 GMT

My first thought was maybe the ground shifted. Maybe built on sandy soil?

But, looking at the photos, looks like it collapsed from the top going down?

RIP, and hopefully many others will be rescued.

Very dangerous for the brave rescue people and firefighters.

Let's hope for the best of safety and good luck.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

beckyb1012 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 13:40:53 GMT

I looked at the slide show of photos a few minutes ago. My first thought was erosion.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

RetRN — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 13:47:57 GMT

Very sad, I will wait for more facts to become available before drawing any conclusions.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

decaf — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:23:08 GMT

As I said earlier, I live in this area. We don't have wood frame construction here. We also don't have sinkholes on the east coast of Fl. Prayers for all those affected. Rain, thunder and lightening are hampering rescue efforts.

ETA- I sold construction materials to builders in S Fl. I'd bet it was caused by an engineering defect, rebar corrosion/failure within the concrete slabs. JMO They'll determine the cause.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

Infinite Mom 47 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:14:15 GMT

People nearby say it sounded like an earthquake.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

SilleeMee — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:20:52 GMT

I wonder if there was a sinkhole which caused the collapse??

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

golding76 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 14:32:18 GMT

This is a genuine nightmare for all affected by this tragic collapse.

My thought is that the collapse was a result of faulty judgment and/or construction.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

Mindy D — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 17:15:29 GMT

We had an unbelievable lightning storm last night. Investigators are also checking a lightning strike in addition to construction problems and other problems you have all mentioned.

From an article online from local channel 6. From the building next door a lady describes what she heard:

" sounded like loud bang, almost like thunder, but no lightning or storm followed after. That is how Fiorella Terenzi described the moment a building next door to where she lives partially collapsed in the middle of the night."

From CNN online:

"This rumbling was very different, very strange. And something was not right in this sound. It was too strong, too violent. It almost felt like a shock wave coming from the next building," she told CNN on Thursday.

She also told the New York Times that she had seen heavy equipment on the roof and that it was being used in checking the building structure. *This could mean that structural integrity of the building was already in question. *Nope to my idea about a question of structural integrity. The reason the equipment was there was because a required 40 year recertification of the building was in process.

I looked up this lady, Terenza, and she's not just any lady. She is a renowned astrophysicist that takes recordings of radio waves from space and turns them into music. Here's what Wikipedia has in her:

"Fiorella Terenzi is an Italian-born astrophysicist, author and recording artist who is best known for taking recordings of radio waves from far-away galaxies and turning them into music. She received her doctorate from the University of Milan but is currently based in the United States.

Described by Time magazine as "a cross between Carl Sagan and Madonna",[1] Dr. Terenzi has studied opera and composition at Conservatory G. Verdi, Corsi Popolari Serali and taught physics and astronomy at various U.S. colleges and universities; she is currently on the full-time faculty at Florida International University inMiami.[2][3][4] In research at the Computer Audio Research Laboratory, University of California, San Diego, she pioneered techniques to convert radio waves emanating from distant galaxies into sound,[5][6] with some of the results released by Island Records on her CD Music from the Galaxies.[7][8][9]The goal of her audiofication/sonification of celestial data is to investigate how sound could reflect chemical, dynamical and physical properties of celestial objects, which she calls "Acoustic Astronomy".[

URe: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

patbz — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 15:01:47 GMT

Per NYT this morning:"Ms. Terenzi said she had seen heavy equipment on the roof of the south tower for the past two weeks."They had been inspecting the building's structure; wonder if equipment on roof is pertinent to this morning's accident?

Re: URe: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

proudlyfromNJ — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 15:03:12 GMT

@patbz wrote:
Per NYT this morning:"Ms. Terenzi said she had seen heavy equipment on the roof of the south tower for the past two weeks."They had been inspecting the building's structure; wonder if equipment on roof is pertinent to this morning's accident?

@patbz Could be as I read they were doing maintenance on the roof.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

Anonymous032819 — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 15:07:31 GMT

CNN is showing a video from an outdoor security camera that shows when the video collapsed, and it just makes me gasp in shock.

They have brought in dogs to help find survivors, and even though they didn't say it, most likely they also have dogs to find the deceased too.

51 people are still unaccounted for.

🙏 Prayers to all 🙏

Re: URe: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

decaf — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 15:15:11 GMT

@patbz @proudlyfromNJ Early this morning the mayor of this city, Surfside, was speaking to reporters on local news here. He confirmed there was roofing work in progress the last two weeks but said all these condo buildings have roofs repaired and replaced all the time with no ill effects. He believes there's some other factor(s) involved to cause this collapse.

Re: CONDO BUILDING IN MIAMI PARTIALLY COLLAPSES!

Mindy D — Thu, 24 Jun 2021 16:00:10 GMT

Our buildings are constructed out of concrete block with steel rebar inside.