Engineer: avenue next to collapsed Florida condo could fail

SURFSIDE, Fla .– An engineer hired to help understand why a South Florida condominium collapsed last month is warning authorities the site still may not be safe.

Structural engineer Allyn Kilsheimer told officials at Surfside and Miami-Dade in a letter Thursday that Collins Avenue could collapse because a perimeter wall remaining near the road could fail. The development was first reported on Friday by the Miami Herald and WPLG.

“We believe there is a potentially dangerous situation at the site where the wall is at risk of collapsing,” Kilsheimer wrote.

All that remains of the Champlain building are the walls of the underground parking lot, around a dug foundation, and Kilsheimer says without more support for these walls, nearby traffic could cause them to collapse, with parts of the street falling into the void.

“If the wall were to collapse or rotate significantly, the soil retained under the street and the sidewalk could move with it,” wrote Kilsheimer, of KCE Structural Engineers.

He recommends building an earth berm to support the walls near the street and sidewalk. Otherwise, the move “could cause portions of the street to collapse and could seriously compromise public services below the street,” he wrote.

Miami-Dade County is bringing in teams to help shore up the remaining underground walls, Rachel Johnson, county communications director, told the Herald.

“We are looking for a company to do the shoring and bracing of the walls to make sure there is no risk,” she said.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology, a federal agency investigating the collapse, is monitoring the security of the site.

Collins Avenue, which is the barrier island’s main thoroughfare, has been closed to traffic near the site since June 24, when the building partially collapsed, killing at least 97 people. City officials had said Collins Avenue would open soon.

In the letter, Kilsheimer said heavy rains would greatly increase the risk as the ground becomes saturated with water.