How does “energy demolition” work, the technique that will be used to demolish the remains of the collapsed Miami complex

Workers prepared what remains of the Champlain Towers South building for demolition which could take place as early as Sunday evening as search and rescue efforts went on hiatus and Tropical Storm Elsa approached Florida. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said there was no exact time for the demolition yet, but it would take place “as soon as possible.” He said dismantling the building was “essential” to broaden the search for people trapped in the rubble.

The demolition plan calls for the use of small, strategically placed detonations, using a technique known as “energy demolition” which also relies on the force of gravity to topple the building.

The procedure causes the building to collapse in place, containing the collapse in the immediate vicinity.

Levine Cava said the collapse would be limited to the immediate area, although he advised neighboring residents to keep windows closed during the demolition to avoid dust.

“We pray that the impacts of the storm are limited to Surfside and that we can continue unhindered,” the mayor said at a press conference.

At first it was thought that the demolition of the structure would take weeks. But the approach of Tropical Storm Elsa added a dangerous new variable to the rescue mission and accelerated demolition plans; the storm had weakened to a hurricane over the weekend but was still on track to reach the Florida peninsula on Monday.

The latest forecast from the National Hurricane Centers shows Elsa is heading for the west coast of Florida, away from Miami-Dade County, although storm trackers are still warning the area could experience rain and gusty winds. outer bands of the system.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told CBS “Face the Nation” that 80% of the demolition prep work was complete. He said the plan is to demolish the rest of the Champlain South Towers in a westerly direction so the rubble pile is not affected. This would allow rescuers to access a wider swath of the wreckage, where authorities and family members still hope there may be survivors.

Search teams have only been able to access part of the rubble pile since the 3 p.m. hiatus on Thursday, due to concerns about the stability of the remaining tower.

“This demolition will open up an entire area, so we can put more resources into the pile,” Burkett said. “We are going to attack it in a big way.”

The death toll stands at 24 and 121 people are still missing.

For nearly 40 years, Champlain Towers South was a familiar sight on Surfside Drive. Completed during the Florida condo boom of the 1980s, it offered a slice of oceanfront living at a comparatively more affordable price than the surrounding chic communities.

Surfside resident Darrell Arnold lives in a house on Harding Avenue, one block from the collapsed building. Over the years, he and his wife have often played on the beach, in the area behind the condo; it was their “usual place to sunbathe and swim”.

“In a way, before the event, the building was just another building on the beach,” he said. “Now it’s a place of trauma and tragedy, a sign of – I don’t know. I don’t even know what it is. Is this a sign of mismanagement, over optimism, neglect? I do not know. I do not know what it is”.

Arnold said seeing the wreckage is always surreal, and the collapse is still difficult to deal with. He said there appears to be “no alternative” to demolishing what remains of the South Champlain Towers if it is not structurally sound. But he hopes the place can become a memorial, at least for a while.

“At one point I found the word grotesque to build something there very quickly like a for-profit building,” he said. “At least there must be some time for it to be some kind of memorial.”

On Sunday, he and his wife wondered if they were going to be evacuated by demolition. Authorities said no further evacuation should be necessary and residents of the neighboring area are safe as long as they stay inside. “No one knocked on our door,” said Arnold, “so we ask ourselves, as we prepare to do whatever we’ll do on the 4th, do we have to leave the house? Or are we staying here?”

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