An official saw the structural damage report on the building that collapsed in Miami in 2018, but said it was “in very good condition.”

Emails have revealed that a former Surfside official who in 2018 reviewed the alarming structural damage report on the building that collapsed around 2:00 a.m. local time last Thursday He replied a month later that the condo was in “very good condition”.

In October of the same year, the design office of engineer Frank Morabito found abundant cracks and crumbling in the columns, beams and walls of the parking lot of the Champlain Tours condominium. As indicated in the files consulted NPR, The head of the building department, Ross Prieto (who stepped down last year) received this report, but wrote a month later: “It appears the building is in very good condition.”

While Morabito’s report does not warn of a possible collapse, it does refer to the need for repairs aimed at “maintaining the structural integrity” of the building and its 136 units.

The conclusions were not taken in a hurry. On the contrary, Prieto congratulated the managers of the place for moving the work forward. “This particular building is not expected to start its 40-year (turnarounds) until 2021, but they have decided to kick-start the process early, which I wholeheartedly support and hope this trend will spread to other properties. “, did he declare.

The weekend, Prieto told the newspaper Miami Herald that he did not recall seeing the report, which specified problems under the pool deck and “concrete deterioration” in the underground parking lot of the beachfront condo. But the documents revealed confirm it. examined them, or claimed to have done so.

Surfside Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer disagreed that in her opinion the collapse could have been avoided after the warnings in the report. “It’s annoying to see these documents because the condominium board has clearly realized that there are issues and it looks like they haven’t been addressed,” he said. , according to the New York Times.

Investigators have yet to identify the cause of the collapse and they are waiting for full access to where rescue teams continue to search the rubble for missing people.

Experts noted that the process of assessing the possible causes that produced the collapse could take months. He understands an examination of the individual building elements that can now be buried in the rubble, tests of concrete to assess its integrity, and an examination of the ground below to see if a sinkhole or other subsidence was responsible for the collapse.

The building had recently started a recertification process, a requirement for 40-year-old structures that have withstood Florida’s coastal hurricanes, storm surges and corrosive salt air It can penetrate concrete and rust interior rebar and steel beams.

The repairs indicated in the Morabito report indicated a budget over $ 9 million.

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