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Search continues into the night with almost 100 people unaccounted for in deadly Florida building collapse | CNN

An intense search and rescue effort will continue through the night after part of a 12-story residential building collapsed early Thursday in the South Florida town of Surfside, killing at least one and leaving almost 100 people unaccounted for.

www.cnn.com

Just read about this, it's absolutely insane that this could happen without any outside events to cause it. 100 people missing as the building was occupied.

Check out the link for video.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Been following this since this morning. It's horrifying. My thoughts go out to those who are trying to find their loved ones there.


Also really curious for the inevitable investigation as to why the building collapsed.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Holy shit, how horrifying :-(

 

[CloudNull]

Been following this since this morning. It's horrifying. My thoughts go out to those who are trying to find their loved ones there.


Also really curious for the inevitable investigation as to why the building collapsed.

Same.

I’m worried that there could be more buildings that this happens to. This countries infrastructure is not maintained at all and many buildings get neglected.

Hopefully there is a root cause that is an anomaly that won’t be duplicated.

 

[nush]

Hopefully there is a root cause that is an anomaly that won’t be duplicated.

Sadly I'm reminded of this.



The trigger event was a gas explosion in one of the kitchens on the higher floors causing a cascade effect. Investigation afterwards discovered it was poor design and cheap materials.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Scary.

 

[MastaKiiLA]

Oh my. Surfside isn't the place I'd expect that to happen. I'm pretty sure a lot of those residences have been around a few decades. But therein lies the problem. Miami, and South Florida in general, has always been susceptible to shady real estate developers, and construction companies that cut corners. Then again, this might be a pretty universal problem.

Anyway, I was not expecting to see that this happened in Surfside. That's really unexpected. I hope everyone is safe, but that video is not reassuring.

 

[Kazekage1981]

the cause of the building collapsing is still unknown. It couldn't be sink holes, because that happens more inland florida. I am going to assume structural integrity, poor maintenance and possible negligence.

I pray for everyone's safety, and firefighters successful getting people out who might be trapped

 

[Pol Pot]

Who built this garbage? Who was responsible for maintaining it? Accountability is a gorgeous dream.

 

[Tschumi]

This can only be corrupt landlords. They knew about the foundation quality when they built the things, buildings often subside. They probably have their favourite inspector and he probably gets a nice dinner at the local restaurants when he's done inspecting. The local relevant government figures are probably more worried about goading voters to care about this automatic service. Ten to one all the adjacent buildings of similar age are in the same place, but they're playing the odds that catastrophic failure won't happen in all of them at once.

People buy these buildings and rent them out for automatic money, not to house people, they won't invest in automatic money.

 

[nush]

 

[gunslikewhoa]

Same.

I’m worried that there could be more buildings that this happens to. This countries infrastructure is not maintained at all and many buildings get neglected.

Hopefully there is a root cause that is an anomaly that won’t be duplicated.

yeah this one building collapsing is certainly a sign that buildings are going to begin collapsing all over the country

 

[Mohonky]

I had heard my Mother bring it up because some Australians were apparently missing, but she said a wall collapsed; that's half the building holy shit.

 

[NeoIkaruGAF]

If I heard it right, the building wasn’t even that old.
It’s really horrible to watch, the thing goes down so fast.

 

[NoviDon]

paraphrasing here, but they said that the building was showing structural deficiencies and was legit bending and warped since some time in the nineties. the building owner said they were going to start repairs soon but then the building collapsed. yeah right. hope everyone involved in this tragedy gets put behind bars for a long time.

Edit: Found the article. These people and their families deserve justice for this BS. Couldve easily been resolved for not being selfish greedy asshats. Building has been shifting since the 90s

 

[nush]

yeah this one building collapsing is certainly a sign that buildings are going to begin collapsing all over the country

I'd still imagine building of a similar age and construction method in the area are going to be looked at very closely after this.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

This can only be corrupt landlords. They knew about the foundation quality when they built the things, buildings often subside. They probably have their favourite inspector and he probably gets a nice dinner at the local restaurants when he's done inspecting. The local relevant government figures are probably more worried about goading voters to care about this automatic service. Ten to one all the adjacent buildings of similar age are in the same place, but they're playing the odds that catastrophic failure won't happen in all of them at once.

People buy these buildings and rent them out for automatic money, not to house people, they won't invest in automatic money.

It’s a condo.

 

[nush]

It’s a condo.

For those of us who are not American explain what that means please.

 

[Squirrel Killer]

For those of us who are not American explain what that means please.

It means the residents own the building, not some mustache twirling landlord.

 

[thief183]

For those of us who are not American explain what that means please.

A condo is a condo even in Europe... Btw there is no landlord, every apartment is from a differenti proprietary.

 

[CloudNull]

yeah this one building collapsing is certainly a sign that buildings are going to begin collapsing all over the country

The statement is in general about the countries infrastructure as a whole. My city of Portland just postponed fixing a bridge for another year because of no funding.

Also, at the start of the pandemic they got rid of the team responsible for inspecting buildings that needed to be reinforced because of hasty craftsmanship back when the city was original built.

So yes one random building collapsing on the other side of the country does peak my interest. Infrastructure all of the country is not maintained.... look at that shit building in SFO that is slowly sinking.

 

[Tschumi]

It’s a condo.

Fair point, but that doesn't immediately immunize it from structural inspections,nor does it immunize it from short cuts, surely

 

[gunslikewhoa]

The statement is in general about the countries infrastructure as a whole. My city of Portland just postponed fixing a bridge for another year because of no funding.

Also, at the start of the pandemic they got rid of the team responsible for inspecting buildings that needed to be reinforced because of hasty craftsmanship back when the city was original built.

So yes one random building collapsing on the other side of the country does peak my interest. Infrastructure all of the country is not maintained.... look at that shit building in SFO that is slowly sinking.

I'm shocked that Portland of all places isn't in tip-top shape.

*edit* and San Fran - double-shocked.

 

[Punished Miku]

The statement is in general about the countries infrastructure as a whole. My city of Portland just postponed fixing a bridge for another year because of no funding.

Also, at the start of the pandemic they got rid of the team responsible for inspecting buildings that needed to be reinforced because of hasty craftsmanship back when the city was original built.

So yes one random building collapsing on the other side of the country does peak my interest. Infrastructure all of the country is not maintained.... look at that shit building in SFO that is slowly sinking.

If only we had someone in a position of influence willing to push investments into infrastructure nationally.

 

[manfestival]

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article252340608.html

They have begun trying to identify the splattered remains of people to inform their family members.

 

[Termite]

Fair point, but that doesn't immediately immunize it from structural inspections,nor does it immunize it from short cuts, surely

No, but what it means is that there's absolutely no incentive for any short cuts to be taken anywhere. The HOA (homeowners' association, made up of the owners of each condo unit) would absolutely want all inspections done properly so that if there's an issue they can claim on their HOA insurance policy as soon as possible. HOA's tend to take no chances in that regard.

So the idea that some shady landlord paying off a regulator is probably responsible for this doesn't stack up. More likely there was some engineering mistake made during construction, building inspectors missed it and we're seeing the result now.

I'm a little shocked how little coverage this is getting compared to the Grenfell disaster, which seemed to involve a similar number of casualties. I guess the pictures aren't as engaging, but I would still expect this to be bigger news. Feels like the public doesn't yet understand the scale of this mass casualty event yet.

 

[Hari Seldon]

The statement is in general about the countries infrastructure as a whole. My city of Portland just postponed fixing a bridge for another year because of no funding.

Also, at the start of the pandemic they got rid of the team responsible for inspecting buildings that needed to be reinforced because of hasty craftsmanship back when the city was original built.

So yes one random building collapsing on the other side of the country does peak my interest. Infrastructure all of the country is not maintained.... look at that shit building in SFO that is slowly sinking.

This isn't some public road or bridge that needs to be maintained with tax dollars. This is a private building... in Miami. This is all on the builder juicing the local building inspector to allow shady shit to fly. Has nothing to do with a bridge not being maintained in Portland lol.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Just saw that the number of missing has apparently been increased to 159. What a horrible situation. I can't imagine what families are going through.

 

[CloudNull]

This isn't some public road or bridge that needs to be maintained with tax dollars. This is a private building... in Miami. This is all on the builder juicing the local building inspector to allow shady shit to fly. Has nothing to do with a bridge not being maintained in Portland lol.

Infrastructure is failing all over the country and has been for a while... doesn’t matter if publicly or privately funded. If this doesn’t concern people then I don’t know what to say.

I’m done arguing about it as I don’t want to thread derail and would prefer to just focus on the situation in Florida.

159 people missing is terrible and I bet the number goes higher.

 

[It's all in the wrist]

I knew a guy that worked on the Hard Rock hotel in New Orleans as a superintendents assistant, which collapsed during the construction phase, so there was clear evidence that someone screwed up. He asked to be excused from the job months before it collapsed. His floor was fine.

Thus is a tragedy. I'll be following it closely to see what the issue was.

 

[Hari Seldon]

Infrastructure is failing all over the country and has been for a while... doesn’t matter if publicly or privately funded. If this doesn’t concern people then I don’t know what to say.

I’m done arguing about it as I don’t want to thread derail and would prefer to just focus on the situation in Florida.

159 people missing is terrible and I bet the number goes higher.

The problem I have with what you are doing is that you are ignoring the actual cause of this problem and conflating it with some national issue that is completely unrelated. No one gets tax payer money to maintain private buildings. This has nothing to do with some national infrastructure plan. This is 100% on the local building inspector and local laws not forcing the private owner(s) to correct deficiencies. Turning this into some national political issue is doing disservice to the people who have died.

 

[CloudNull]

The problem I have with what you are doing is that you are ignoring the actual cause of this problem and conflating it with some national issue that is completely unrelated. No one gets tax payer money to maintain private buildings. This has nothing to do with some national infrastructure plan. This is 100% on the local building inspector and local laws not forcing the private owner(s) to correct deficiencies. Turning this into some national political issue is doing disservice to the people who have died.

I made a simple observation about the countries infrastructure.... honestly didn't expect anything to come from the statement. Some dude made a smart ass remark because of my statement while having no context for my reasoning.

It doesn't matter that I think, on a fundamental level, the way we as a country build our infrastructure, private or publicly funded is flawed. This can be proven by the data as shit slowly falls apart. To many times things are designed to save money or without cybersecurity in mind. Until the mindset changes this will continue and I bet occurrences like this become more frequent in the coming years.

More than likely this situation was caused by some one cutting corners and trying to save some money.

Take with a grain of salt but Posobeic usually delvers on his claims.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Bad scenario, RIP.

 

[xrnzaaas]

The video showing one part and then another part of the building coming down in seconds is hard to watch. Not only because of the people who died, but also because how quickly it all happened.

 

[HoodWinked]

The video showing one part and then another part of the building coming down in seconds is hard to watch. Not only because of the people who died, but also because how quickly it all happened.

ya its miserable. after that middle part falls you can see lights in the other section, it was just enough for some to probably wake from the noise only for that section to then collapse.

 

[partime]

ya its miserable. after that middle part falls you can see lights in the other section, it was just enough for some to probably wake from the noise only for that section to then collapse.

Fuuu that's depressing.

 

[triplestation]

 

[godhandiscen]

Fair point, but that doesn't immediately immunize it from structural inspections,nor does it immunize it from short cuts, surely

Yeah but it puts the responsibility in the home owners association and the tenants have a bigger say on that.

I am also curious to see how the outcome of the investigation.

 

[SlimySnake]

Pretty much everyone missing is dead. They might get lucky and find one or two people trapped in the rubble but highly unlikely.

This kind of shit happens in third world countries. Its scary to think it can happen here despite all the regulations and oversight. I suspect the city governments will have to start spending more money reviewing the structural integrity of these apartment complexes. I just paid some guy $75 to test my sprinkler system's backflow so that my water doesnt leak into city's water. The city makes sure I get that tested every year. I cant believe stuff like this isnt regulated more.

Almost 200 people dead sleeping in their homes. Shocking.

 

[Pagusas]

Pretty much everyone missing is dead. They might get lucky and find one or two people trapped in the rubble but highly unlikely.

This kind of shit happens in third world countries. Its scary to think it can happen here despite all the regulations and oversight. I suspect the city governments will have to start spending more money reviewing the structural integrity of these apartment complexes. I just paid some guy $75 to test my sprinkler system's backflow so that my water doesnt leak into city's water. The city makes sure I get that tested every year. I cant believe stuff like this isnt regulated more.

Almost 200 people dead sleeping in their homes. Shocking.

It is regulated, but who’s making sure the regulators are doing their jobs?

if this goes the way I think it will, a lot of people (both private and state workers) are going to jail or will be raked across the coals of public opinion + open to major lawsuits.

 

[CloudNull]

Looks like they are considering evacuating the sister building.... I would love to know what they know. It has to be shitty construction.

 

[INC]

Looks like they are considering evacuating the sister building.... I would love to know what they know. It has to be shitty construction.

Could?
Don't they mean should? Cant be good for the footings, to have a building collapse on them

 

[Kenpachii]

Looks like they are considering evacuating the sister building.... I would love to know what they know. It has to be shitty construction.

Like wtf. evacuate that shit man.

 

[CloudNull]

Yeah I bet some one goes to jail.

Engineer found major structural damage to Florida condo tower nearly three years before collapse

"Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially," the report said.

www.cnbc.com

 

[Virt McPolygon]

Scary situation and fucked up when you think about how the event could've been prevented from happening.

 

[McCheese]

Water in the foundations with no working drainage, the whole building had sunk a few cm over the years and the people responsible for sorting it kept delaying work. Seems like a clear case of negligence.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Looks like they are considering evacuating the sister building.... I would love to know what they know. It has to be shitty construction.

Considering? I mean that should be an obvious thing to do at least for the duration of the investigation to establish what happened and is the other building also in danger of collapsing.

Can't imagine people will still want to live in the nearby buildings unless they're seriously in debt and can't relocate.

 

[Nobody_Important]

Looks like they are considering evacuating the sister building.... I would love to know what they know. It has to be shitty construction.

Maybe I'm just the crazy one here, but how about we skip the "considering" part and just fucking do it. Hell evacuate any other nearby multi-story building while your at it out of an abundance of caution.



Have everything older than 25 years within several miles inspected. Because somewhere a big ass ball has been dropped. No telling how many times it's happened.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Looks like they are considering evacuating the sister building.... I would love to know what they know. It has to be shitty construction.

The crazy thing about stuff like this is that if that other building was built in the same way, at the same time, it'll probably fail very soon.

Just the nature of material deterioration.

 

[Elysion]

Construction seems to be one of those areas where modern technology appears to be inferior to older building methods, at least as far as longevity is concerned. When you hear about a collapsed building these days, it‘s usually something that was build relatively recently, meaning within the last few decades. On the other hand, you almost never hear about this kind of thing happening to any of those old cathedrals or castles in Europe, or to mosques, temples or palaces in other parts of the world.

There are buildings that have stood for over a thousand years which are still being used to this day, while I have a hard time imagining that any building built after 1950 will still stand a thousand years from now.