Four confirmed dead and 159 missing, that’s the current casualty count after the partial collapse of a condo building early Thursday morning in Surfside.
This morning searchers are digging and crawling through the rubble with dogs and sonar equipment, accessing the collapsed building from the parking garage below.
Rescuers say they heard what sounds like banging but no voices.
So what caused the deadly building collapse? An FIU report says the high-rise condo was deemed unstable a year ago and was sinking two millimeters a year in the 1990’s.
Jen and Bill spoke with attorney Eric Glazer, who is board certified in condo and HOA law, and he says the reports of sinking and concrete spalling are common in condos built along the ocean in Florida.
He believes the cause of the collapse is much more catastrophic. He says that in Miami Dade and Broward Counties are required to go through a 40-year certification.
And the Champlain Towers South was in the middle of its 40 year certification, more specifically, the structural aspect of the certification.
Eric Glazer
Glazer says that spalling (concrete crumbling/rebar rusting) and ground settling and sinking are common with structures built along the ocean in South Florida. Also, structural repairs are very common, but Glazer believes something more catastrophic is behind this building failure.
Eric Glazer 2
Listen to the full interview with Eric Glazer here.
Eric Glazer was in the first group of attorneys to ever become Board Certified by The Florida Bar in Condominium and Planned Development Law. There are approximately 77,000 attorneys in Florida. Only 127 are board certified in this area. Eric has also certified approximately 16,000 officers and directors around the state in the firm’s very popular Board Certification course for both condominium and HOA directors.
Click here for Glazer and Sachs website.
Dr. Atorod Azizinamini Director of FIU’s Moss School of Construction. Infrastructure, and Sustainability told Jen and Bill that a complete reconstruction of the structural failure will be created on computer and it will reveal why the building failed. But, it may take a year to determine exactly what caused the catastrophic collapse.
Listen to the full interview with Dr. Azizinamini here.