the swimming pool of the luxurious complex, at the center of the suspicions about the collapse of the building

At 1:15 a.m. Thursday morning Sara Nir heard a roar and saw that part of the downstairs parking lot and the pool deck had collapsed into the underground garage. She and two of her children who were in her apartment in the Champlain Towers in Miami fled the building and managed to survive the disaster. Sara is now witnessing what can be a vital piece in understanding the causes of the collapse.

The swimming pool. The whole country points to this rectangle it was once blue water, where families at the Surfside resort enjoyed a moment of rest in sunny Miami. A report had already warned three years ago that the non-slip tiled terrace surrounding the swimming pool was poorly constructed, did not drain well, had water leaks in the garage below and that this had caused problems. “structural damage” to the building which eventually collapsed. early in the morning last Thursday.

But now a witness has emerged who delves into this theory because watched the pool and the parking lot below collapse seconds before the collapse.

The newspaper The Washington Post on Wednesday released a detailed analysis of photos of the ruins and video of the fall of the complex’s south tower. He spoke with dozens of experts and also obtained the testimony of Sara, a resident of the place.

The tragedy has so far left 16 dead and more than a hundred missing, including 9 Argentines. Rescue efforts continue 24 hours without interruption, but progress slowly for the tight arrangement of the rubble, due to the risk of explosions and rain. Yesterday, another deceased person was identified, Hilda Noriega, a 92-year-old woman who was planning to move soon from her apartment on the 6th floor.

As the pain of loved ones grows, questions about the causes of the tragedy continue. It emerged on Saturday that in 2018, a report by engineer Frank Morabito for Surfside County warned of “serious structural damage” to the pool area. He pointed out that the bridge, which was covered with non-slip tiles, was built flat and that is why, in addition to a few huge beds of cement, the water did not flow well. In addition, due to leaks, the liquid seeped into the concrete slab and into the garage below, damaging the columns.

Testimonials

Jean Wodnicki, the chairman of the condominium told the owners in April this year that the damage to the garage had “considerably worsened”. The building, built in 1981, was in the process of recertification, a procedure that takes place every 40 years. But repairs were being done on the roof, not on the sink or in the parking lot.

The collapse investigation can take several months and, as pointed out by three engineers consulted a few days ago by Bugle, it may not be the product of a single cause. But Allyn E. Kilsheimer, a senior engineer hired by Surfside to investigate the collapse, told the Post that This sink failure could have triggered a larger disaster.

“It is possible that part of the pool fell first and then drag the center of the building with it, and it made him fall apart, ”Kilsheimer said. “And then after the center of the building collapsed, number two, the rest of the building didn’t know how to stand, and number three also fell.”

Most of the dozen experts interviewed for the Post’s article, including nine structural engineers, agreed the collapse appeared to have originated by a fault in the lower levels of the building or in the parking lot below it. In footage of the rubble, four experts saw signs of failure in which the concrete slabs that make up a building’s floors are dislodged from the structure’s support columns.

Experts stressed that this disaster is extraordinary for a 40-year-old building and amazes engineers. Joe DiPompeo, president of the Institute for Structural Engineering at the American Society of Civil Engineers said that “there has to be a very specific sequence of events that somehow escaped all safety devices code and everything. “

Sara Nir, a resident of the resort, told the Post that shortly before 1 a.m. she noticed loud “banging” noises which she said were caused by construction work. Around 1:14 a.m. he heard a noise he thought it looked like a collapsing wall, and left his apartment, which is on the first floor, to complain to a security guard in the lobby.

She estimated that about a minute later, while in the lobby, she heard a loud explosion-like noise and saw that part of the surface-level parking lot and the pool deck. had collapsed in the underground parking lot. She and two of her children who were at the house at the time fled the building.

Nir’s son called 911 at 1:19 a.m., a recording that was left on his phone, and a minute later, a Miami-Dade County Fire and Rescue worker called for a cell phone to answer an alarm in the building, as shown in the audio. According to the Supplemental Emergency Audio, the building collapsed between 1:24 a.m. and 1:25 a.m. while Vehicle 76 was underway.

Nir’s account matches that of Mike Stratton, at the Miami Herald, who said he was talking to his wife Cassie that night and she told him she could see a hole in the pool from the balcony of his apartment on the fourth floor. While they were talking, the line was cut and she is one of the missing.

“If these two accounts are really any indication that the pool deck area collapsed first, then the deterioration from seepage and subsequent damage to the slab could be consistent with this“said engineer Glenn Bell, director of Collaborative Reporting for Safer Structures, who cautioned against hasty conclusions and that the investigation would take time.

Engineer Kilsheimer said corrosion caused by water entering the slab could have caused it to collapse. “If a sufficient part of the reinforcing steel it was 100 percent rustyIt could be something that makes it possible, ”he said.

Investigators will also examine the ground beneath the building to see if a collapse or failure of the foundation could have caused the disaster. A university study published last year found that the building seemed to have sunk a few millimeters in the 1990s. He also looks for inferior or poor quality materials when constructing the building.

PB