No Jamaican impacted by Florida building collapse, says consul general
Published:Sunday | June 27, 2021 | 12:12 AMLester Hinds - Sunday Gleaner Writer
No Jamaican has been affected by Thursday’s collapse of the 12-storey oceanfront condominium building in Surfside, Florida, according to the authorities.
So far, five persons have been confirmed dead and 156 reported missing. The search-and-rescue mission continues for the fourth straight day.
On Friday, Jamaica’s Consul General to Miami Oliver Mair, along with other CARICOM officials, toured the site to get a first-hand look at the high-rise condo building, one side of which partially collapsed near Miami Beach early Thursday morning.
He told The Sunday Gleaner that so far it has been determined that no Jamaican was impacted by the tragic event.
“It is very sobering to see the building,” Mair said.
The consul general said he and his CARICOM counterparts took the opportunity to speak with government officials as well as the first responders to get detailed information.
Mair pointed out that one of the fire chiefs leading the search-and-rescue mission was Jamaican Derrick Foster.
“It is a very sad day. They shared with us information that they currently have available as well as the lists of persons affected,” he said.
From the list, it was determined that no Jamaican or other Caribbean national had been affected, he said.
Mair noted that the first responders appreciated the support being offered.
In discussions with the mayors, the consul general said that he and his colleagues offered to help in whatever way they could.
REPORT: ‘MAJOR STRUCTURAL DAMAGE’
It was revealed yesterday that the apartment building had “major structural damage” to a concrete slab below its pool deck that needed to be extensively repaired, according to a 2018 engineering report on the building.
The report was among a series of documents released by the city of Surfside as rescuers continued to dig through the rubble of the building in an effort to find any of the 156 people who remain unaccounted for.
While the engineering report from the firm of Morabito Consultants did not warn of imminent danger from the damage – and it is unclear if any of the damage observed was responsible for the collapse – it did note the need for extensive and costly repairs to fix the systemic issues with the building.
It said the waterproofing under the pool deck had failed and had been improperly laid flat instead of sloped, preventing water from draining off.
“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 firm recommended that the damaged slabs be replaced in what would be a major repair.
The report also uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. Some of the damage was minor, while other columns had exposed and deteriorating rebar. It also noted that many of the building’s previous attempts to fix the columns and other damage with epoxy were marred by poor workmanship and were failing.
Beneath the pool deck “where the slab had been epoxy-injected, new cracks were radiating from the originally repaired cracks”, the report said.
Abi Aghayere, a Drexel University engineering researcher, said the extent of the damage shown in the engineering report was notable. In addition to possible problems under the pool, he said several areas above the entrance drive showing signs of deterioration were worrisome and should have been repaired immediately because access issues prevented a closer inspection.
“Were the supporting members deteriorated to the extent that a critical structural element or their connections failed leading to progressive collapse?” he wrote in an email to the AP after reviewing the report. “Were there other areas in the structure that were badly deteriorated and unnoticed?”
At the site where the building once stood, scores of rescuers used big machines, small buckets, drones, microphones and their own hands to pick through the mountain of debris that had been the 12-storey Champlain Towers South.
Yesterday, a crane could be seen removing pieces of rubble from a more than 30-foot pile at the site. Firefighters were still dealing with smoke that continued smouldering underneath the rubble.