Engineer raised concerns about ‘major structural damage’ at Florida building a few years before collapse
It was released as rescuers continue to scour the rubble at Champlain Towers South in Surfside. Part of the building collapsed early Thursday, killing at least four and leaving at least 159 unaccounted for, officials said. Those figures did not change overnight.
The report said the waterproofing below the pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing “major structural damage.”
“The waterproofing below the pool deck and Entrance Drive as well as all of the planter waterproofing is beyond its useful life and therefore must all be completely removed and replaced,” the report reads.
“The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially.”
The report said the waterproofing was laid on a flat structure rather than a sloped concrete slab that would have allowed the water to drain. That resulted in water sitting on the waterproofing until it evaporated, in what the report identified as a “major error.”
The report further noted that “the replacement of the existing deck waterproofing will be extremely expensive…be disruptive and create a major disturbance to the occupants of this condominium building.”
The report, the goal of which was to “understand and document the extent of structural issues,” detailed signs of “distress/fatigue” in the parking garage.
“Abundant cracking and spalling of various degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls. … Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion.”
Spalling is a term used to describe areas of concrete that have cracked or crumbled.
The 2018 report also noted that “many … previous garage concrete repairs” were “failing.”
The report didn’t give any indication that the structure was at risk of collapse. It was completed by Frank Morabito of Morabito Consultants. The firm offered no comment to CNN on Friday.
An attorney for the building’s condominium association, Kenneth Direktor, previously warned against early speculation. The building, he told CNN on Friday, had been subject to a series of inspections “over the last several months” as part of its milestone 40-year safety certification process.
“Nothing like this was foreseeable,” Direktor said. “At least it wasn’t seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective.”
CNN reached out to Direktor on Saturday for comment.
Surfside mayor: Evacuate nearby tower
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett on Saturday recommended residents of the nearby north tower evacuate out of “an abundance of caution.”
“I don’t think people need to live with the possibility, or the even the thought that their” building may collapse, Burkett told CNN.
Burkett said he has not seen the 2018 report, and that it’s still “unclear what steps the building was taking to address … cracks” mentioned in the document.
At an emergency meeting Friday evening, the mayor and town commission discussed the evacuation of the north tower — which Burkett described as “exactly the same property” in design as the collapsed tower — and the hiring of an engineer to investigate.
On Saturday morning, CNN asked Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava about the report.
“We need all this information, we need all this evidence, and we are going to get to the bottom of what happened at this particular building,” she said.
The mayor later told reporters, “We knew nothing about this report.”
Officials have not determined a cause of the collapse.
Levine Cava said Miami-Dade is conducting an audit of all county buildings at their 40-year point and beyond.
“We want to make sure that every building has completed their recertification process,” she said.
The building that collapsed was undergoing that recertification process, and the board only knew what the engineer’s certification report included in terms of repair work, she said.
Permit for roof repairs issued day before collapse
Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney for the Champlain Towers condo association, said board members had no information that would have foreshadowed Thursday’s disaster.
“Typical things that an engineer looks for in a certification report in Miami-Dade and Broward County, which are the two counties that require this kind of certification, is a review of the roof, the HVAC system, electrical, plumbing, and the building envelope,” Berger told CNN.
“But certainly, there was nothing hazardous that was outlined in that report, anything that would have proven to be a danger to life.”
The town of Surfside issued a permit for roof repairs on the Champlain Towers South building the day before the collapse, according to documents released Friday.
The company set to perform the work, Concrete Protection and Restoration LLC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.
Another document produced as part of the 2018 structural engineer’s report also noted that small portions of the building were “showing distress.”
The report, conducted by Morabito for the building’s condo association, noted that about “2% of exterior columns have experienced concrete spalling” and about “5% of the balcony structural floor slabs showed hairline cracking.”
A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday claims that the association of the collapsed condo is responsible for “failures to secure and safeguard” the lives and property of condo owners.
Direktor responded on behalf of the association saying, “I don’t know what caused this building to fall down … The engineers don’t know with certainty what caused this building to fall down.”
Rescuers still searching
Levine Cava said a smoky fire under the rubble was causing “incredible difficulties” for rescue crews, who created a trench in a bid to isolate the blaze.
“I am holding out hope because our first responders tell me they have hope,” Levine Cava told CNN.
Search efforts continued with crews from Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue, alongside three other state task forces, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Comisky said. International crews from Mexico and Israel arrived on the scene to help on Friday.
Three of the four victims have been identified, according to the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department. One victim died at a hospital. No other information was provided Friday.
About 55 of the 136 units at the building a few miles north of Miami Beach collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, leaving huge piles of rubble on the ground and materials dangling from what remained of the structure, officials said.
Thirty-five people were rescued from standing portions of the building by first responders, Jadallah said Thursday.
The number of people unaccounted for rose to at least 159 from 99, Levine Cava said Friday. She added the figure refers to those who may have been within the complex.
“So those are people that maybe live there, but we don’t know whether they were there at the time,” Levine Cava said.
“I had actually called them to tell them I had just booked a flight to come visit because they’ve been asking me to come see their home and to meet their daughter I haven’t met her due to the pandemic,” Sarina Patel said.
They were home at the time the collapse took place, Sarina Patel said.
“We have tried calling them countless of times and there’s just been no answers, text messages, nothing,” she said. “They haven’t contacted anybody.”
CNN’s Rosa Flores reported from Surfside; Steve Almasy, Curt Devine, Rebekah Riess, Casey Tolan, Amanda Watts, Sara Weisfeldt, Theresa Waldrop, Ana Zuniga, Melissa Alonso, Jamiel Lynch, Camille Furst, Abel Alvarado, Kristen Holmes, Valentina Moreira, Gerardo Lemos and Radina Gigova contributed to this report.
