Community Chat

[decaf]

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.

[Infinite Mom 47]

People nearby say it sounded like an earthquake.  

[SilleeMee]

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

[golding76]

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.

[Mindy D]

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".[

[patbz]

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?

[proudlyfromNJ]

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@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?

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

[Anonymous032819]

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 🙏

[decaf]

@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.

[Mindy D]

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