Engineers plan to demolish the standing portion of the building ahead of the storm that’s expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds
CNN —
As search and rescue operations at the site of a partial building collapse in Surfside, Florida, stretched into a tenth day Saturday, authorities announced they would pause operations to prepare for the likely demolition of what remains of the Champlain Towers South condo building.
“There is a threat to the standing building,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Saturday night, adding because of that, engineers and the demolition team paused operations around 4 p.m. Saturday.
“We’re waiting on instructions from the engineers … before we can safely resume,” she explained.
At least 24 people are confirmed dead in the collapse – with two victims pulled from the rubble Friday night. The victims include four- and ten-year-old sisters, an elderly couple, and the daughter of a firefighter.
Lynne Sladky/AP
Members of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team walk near the Champlain Towers South condo building.
Nicole Mejias told CNN Saturday that five of her family members were in the Champlain Towers South building when it collapsed, including 7-year-old Stella Cattarossi, the daughter of a Miami firefighter. Cattarossi’s body was found Thursday night.
“We just miss them so much already, we wish this tragedy didn’t happen, and will always remember them,” Mejias said.
As of Saturday evening, 121 people remained unaccounted for in the tragedy, while 191 have been accounted for, Levine Cava said.
Now officials continue to work around the clock to make sure the site is secured ahead of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is tracking toward South Florida with heavy rain and strong winds expected to impact the coast late Sunday night into early Monday morning.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for 15 counties on Saturday – including Miami-Dade county – due to Tropical Storm Elsa.
Tropical Storm watches have already been issued for parts of the Florida Keys and “additional watches are anticipated for Florida’s West Coast,” DeSantis said. “We’re preparing for the risk of isolated tornadoes, storm surge, heavy rainfall and flash flooding.”
“The state has begun executing contingency plans for the Tropical Storm Elsa and Surfside co-response,” he added.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Mark Humphrey/AP
Search and rescue personnel work atop the rubble at the Champlain Towers South condo building on Friday, July 2.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
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Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Mark Humphrey/AP
A Coast Guard boat patrols the water ahead of Biden’s visit on Thursday.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
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NBA basketball player Udonis Haslem, left, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava arrive to pay their respects Wednesday at a memorial near the building.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Al Diaz/Miami Herald/AP
Search-and-rescue teams look through the rubble of Champlain Towers South on June 29.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
People take part in a twilight vigil near the building on Monday.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel/TNS/ABACA Press/Reuters
Members of the Legendarios, a men’s religious group, gather near the building for a moment of prayer.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
More than 3 million pounds of concrete have already been removed during the rescue operation, said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
A woman puts flowers in a barricade as she pays her respects near the building.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
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Passersby look at photos of missing people.
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PHOTO: Gerald Herbert/AP
Workers search through the rubble on June 26.
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PHOTO: Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Eliagne Sanchez and K. Parker lay flowers on the beach near the partially collapsed building.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Smoke rises as rescuers continued to search for survivors on June 26.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Maria Alejandra Cardona/Reuters
People stand near the building on June 25.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Angel Valentin/The New York Times/Redux
Mourners light candles on the beach near the building.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Giorgio Viera/EFE/Sipa
Members of a search-and-rescue team work in the rubble.
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PHOTO: Pedro Portal/AP
People pray together on the beach near the collapsed building.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Al Diaz/AP
Firefighters battle a blaze at the collapse site.
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PHOTO: Eva Marie Uzcategui/AFP/Getty Images
People hug June 25 as they wait for news about their relatives at a community center in Surfside.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Rescue personnel search through the building’s rubble on June 25.
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Toby Fried holds up a picture of her missing brother, Chaim Rosenberg, outside the Surfside Community Center on June 25.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
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Rescue workers use a crane to inspect the damage.
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PHOTO: Lynne Sladky/AP
Ariana Hevia, center, stands with Sean Wilt near the partially collapsed building on June 25. Hevia’s mother, Cassandra Statton, lives in the building.
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PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Rescue workers arrive to the scene with dogs on June 25.
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PHOTO: Lynne Sladky/AP
Faydah Bushnaq, center, is hugged by Maria Fernanda Martinez as they stand on the beach near the building. Bushnaq, who was vacationing in South Florida, stopped to write “pray for their souls” in the sand.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Octavio Jones/Reuters
The arm of an earth mover is seen during the search operations.
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PHOTO: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
Rescue personnel work at the site on June 24.
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Yube Pettingill talks to the media. Two of her family members were still missing.
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PHOTO: MiamiDadeFire/Twitter
This photo was tweeted by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue after the building collapsed.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
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Displaced residents are taken to a nearby hotel in Surfside.
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The partial collapse left huge piles of rubble and materials dangling from what remained of the structure.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at center in the red tie, arrives to speak to the media on June 24. “We still have hope to be able to identify additional survivors,” DeSantis told reporters near the scene. “The state of Florida, we’re offering any assistance that we can.”
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: David Santiago/Miami Herald/AP
Debris dangles from the building on June 24.
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People hug at a family reunification center where evacuees were staying in Surfside.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Miami-Dade Fire Rescue/SplashNews/Newscom
The cause of the collapse wasn’t immediately known.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Lynne Sladky/AP
Jennifer Carr sits with her daughter as they and other evacuees wait for news at the family reunification center in Surfside.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: David Santiago/Miami Herald/AP
Rescue personnel search through the rubble with dogs.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
Police stand guard on the day the building collapsed.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
People on the beach look at the building after the partial collapse.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The building was constructed in 1981, according to online Miami-Dade property records.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Lynne Sladky/AP
People lie on cots at the family reunification center in Surfside.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The beachfront community is a few miles north of Miami Beach.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
More than 80 rescue units responded to the scene, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said.
Photos: Deadly condo collapse near Miami
PHOTO: Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
Rescue personnel work at the site of the partial collapse.
Elsa was a Category 1 hurricane Friday and early Saturday but weakened to a tropical storm as it took aim at the Dominican Republic and Haiti. While the forecast remains uncertain for the continued track and intensity, the potential for weather-related issues at the collapse site is influencing authorities’ decisions on the ground.
“We’re still very hopeful that we can do the demolition before the storm,” Levine Cava explained. “We are proceeding as quickly as we possibly can.”
Officials don’t yet know the exact timing of the demolition. “Engineers are on site and they’re still conducting their due diligence, so we don’t have an exact time frame at this time,” Levine Cava said Saturday night.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said, “The fear was that the hurricane may take the building down for us and take it down in the wrong direction, on top of the pile where we have victims.”
Burkett adding that the demolition “will allow rescue workers to pour all over the entire site without fear of any danger from falling debris or falling buildings.”
Plans to demolish the remaining portion of the building were announced late in the week as rescuers continued to scour the debris for victims.
Search and rescue operations were briefly suspended on Thursday after engineers noted shifting on the debris pile that posed a danger to the rescue crews, officials said.
After operations resumed later that day, authorities confirmed in a press conference that demolition would likely be necessary in order to keep rescue crews and the collapse site safe for further searches
Lynne Sladky/AP
A cross hangs among wilting flowers at a makeshift memorial near the Champlain Towers South condo building.
Levine Cava announced Saturday the firm Controlled Demolition, Inc. will handle the demolition of the remaining Champlain Towers’ South structure.
“They have done other large demolitions,” Levine Cava said, adding that the company was “evaluating the scene right now.”
On Saturday, the governor expressed his support for the demolition plan ahead of Elsa’s impact.
“I think it’s the right thing to do. At the end of the day that building is too unsafe to let people go back,” DeSantis said.
He explained he believes it would be best for the building to be down before the storm arrives, saying, “With these gusts potentially, it would create a really big hazard.”
Levine Cava said the county won’t need to evacuate any additional buildings ahead of the demolition but they will be announcing a perimeter for the demolition area.
Burkett also assured residents Saturday that demolition shouldn’t impact other buildings in the area.
Burkett said he’s taken calls from concerned citizens who are worried about potential impacts to their buildings from the demolition as well as environmental impacts from the debris.
Materials from the debris pile were tested by a company hired by the structural engineers and “there were no significant issues in the debris,” Burkett told reporters Saturday night.
A thorough review of the debris will help officials determine what happened and hopefully prevent any other collapses like this from occurring.
Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images
This aerial view, shows search and rescue personnel working on site after the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, north of Miami Beach, on June 24, 2021. – The multi-story apartment block in Florida partially collapsed early June 24, sparking a major emergency response. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told NBCs Today show: My police chief has told me that we transported two people to the hospital this morning at least and one has died. We treated ten people on the site. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images)
Since part of the building fell more than a week ago, complaints about construction on a high rise next door have come to light through interviews with survivors, family members of victims, and documents obtained by CNN.
On Saturday, CNN learned the developer behind Eighty Seven Park, a high-rise recently erected next door to Champlain Towers South, offered the Surfside tower’s condominium board $400,000 amid complaints over the construction.
Construction on that building had been the source of complaints, including at least one from a condo board member to a Surfside building official in January 2019, documents obtained by CNN show.
Under the agreement sent by the group behind the luxury building, residents of Champlain Towers South would have had to release the developer from liability and the condominium board would have had to publicly support the development in letters sent to the town of Surfside and Miami Beach, where Eighty Seven Park was being built, in exchange for the payment, according to a person familiar with the matter.
The agreement was presented in 2019, according to the Washington Post, who first reported on it.
Giorgio Viera/AFP/Getty Images
TOPSHOT – Members of the South Florida Urban Search and Rescue team look for possible survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 27, 2021 in Surfside, Florida. – The death toll after the collapse of a Florida apartment tower has risen to nine, the local mayor said on June 27, 2021, more than three days after the building pancaked as residents slept. “We were able to recover four additional bodies in the rubble… So I am confirming today that the death toll is at nine,” Miami-Dade County mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters in Surfside, near Miami Beach, adding that one victim had died in hospital. “We’ve identified four of the victims and notified next of kin.” (Photo by Giorgio Viera / AFP) (Photo by GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images)
It was never signed by the Champlain Towers South condominium board, Max Marcucci, a spokesman for the board told CNN.
On Friday, Robert McKee, an attorney for one of the Champlain Towers South residents suing the condominium board, suggested in a court hearing that the civil plaintiffs should investigate the neighboring building, calling the developer “a potential significant possible defendant.”
CNN has reached out to the developer behind Eighty Seven Park for comment on the proposed agreement.
CNN’s Brian Todd, Natasha Chen, Kevin Conlon, Claudia Dominguez, Casey Tolan and Haley Brink contributed to this report.
