The Surfside Condo takedown...
So far it's 24 dead at the Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside where a section collapsed last week.Lots of news (and fears) about the approaching tropical storm, but South Florida had 2 days of perfect weather. Rescue work was suspended last night and the remaining portion of the building was taken down around 10:30pm in a controlled demolition.
The thought of that sickens me.
The official statement was between 10:00pm and 3:00am
You couldn't wait... could you?
I read the collapse was to be away from the area where the first section fell so it didn't hamper continued rescue in finding as many dead as they could. At this point, there is no hope of recovering anyone alive.
I'm thinking of the residents to the 100+ apartments that remained standing. They were evacuated and not given a second to take any belongings with them.
Important things like identification, documents, jewelry, cash, keys all remained inside.
The whole thing was handled poorly. It's a fiasco to a degree beyond comprehension.
Both sides of the beachfront have been barricaded and the waters patrolled by coastguard. I haven't read anything about the
More to come...
Comments (28)
I get being grateful to be alive, but how do people function and start to rebuild without ID, access to bank accounts, work clothes, car keys?
It makes me wonder if I should have an emergency kit by the front door in case my new downstairs neighbours set their kitchen on fire again.
I'm also wondering if the collapse and 'controlled demlition' could destabilise other buildings in the area.
Living very close to the ocean on a sandbar as sea levels rise is increasingly hazardous.
This was exacerbated by ignoring structural flaws and deterioration.
The government sat on reports before it happened saying it shouldn't take a major disaster for action to be taken to avoid a major disaster and yet little action has been taken to avoid another disaster in many, many other buildings around the UK.
So many lives lost and so many people who will have to start life from scratch.
3 more bodies recovered today.
It might be will be impossible identifying bodies from here on in.
"Officials made the decision Wednesday to cease search and rescue operations, putting an end to the hopes of finding survivors beneath the rubble."
"No survivors have been pulled from the rubble since the day the building collapsed, when 37 people were taken out alive. One of those survivors later died at the hospital.
The official death toll increased to 54 on Wednesday after eight more bodies were recovered. The number of people unaccounted for dropped to 86, a figure that has remained fluid as investigators continue to verify the list of those missing."
My guess is those remaining in the rubble are crushed within the cement structure. Once the heavy machinery moves in and more bodies are uncovered, it will be very difficult (maybe impossible) to identify the remains.
The heat was so intense a lot of bodies were incinerated.
There was also no clear idea of how many people perished: people may have had guests, there may have been undocumented immgrants and homeless people may have been sleeping in stairwells.
Once more sorry to hear about the victims.............