12-story condo building in Miami collapses
What on earth caused a catastrophic failure of this nature?:
Miami-Dade Police have confirmed that one person has died as a result of a building collapse in Surfside, Florida.
Further fatalities are feared but not yet confirmed, as more people are thought to be trapped under the rubble of Champlain Tower South, near 88 Street & Collins Avenue.
Miami-Dade officials said at a press conference that the number of missing people is yet to be established and that investigations into the incident could take up to a week. Initial indications from officials suggest 51 are unaccounted for.
The building was built in 1981. That’s forty years ago, but it’s not hundreds of years ago, and one doesn’t expect a building of that vintage and type to just suddenly collapse. But I haven’t yet seen any indication of what might have caused it.
Watching the video of the collapse, it looks eerily similar to planned demolition where the lower support structures are blasted in a precise sequence to bring the building down on top of itself. Or also the WTC collapse as the girders melted and then brought the upper floors straight down into the lower floors.
What is more surprising is that this 40 year old beach front condo survived Andrew at age 20. If there was some major structural design/construction flaw, it would seem a near hit from a Cat 5 storm would reveal such a situation.
I’m not a structural engineer, but I’m having a hard time coming up with a scenario where such a building collapses in such a fashion in a random manner.
2 observations…
1. FICUS doesn’t offer condolences or prayers…just Fed help. Maybe 50+ people are dead & not even a “we’re sorry for your loss.”
2. I don’t believe in coincidences. Is someone setting DeSantis up for a faux “Russian collusion”-type hamstringing op? Those buildings fell straight down in controlled demo fashion…looks too convenient.
Addendum: collapse at 130am??….convenient time when almost all residents likely home and in bed.
If it was a deliberate demolition by a derranged individual or group, such a thing should be easily discernible by investigators in fairly short order I would think. If that isn’t the case though, it sure is weird. I’m no engineer or architect, but wouldn’t a “pancaking” like that require the simultaneous failing of several key support structural members?
I’m not a structural engineer, but I’m having a hard time coming up with a scenario where such a building collapses in such a fashion in a random manner.
In my home town, there was an eccentric parking garage constructed in 1974 that up and collapsed one day. IIRC, the post hoc assessment by structural engineers said that continuous exposure to road salt in the winter time had rendered the asphalt and concrete of the structure’s odd open-air roundabouts brittle, and when one failed it took the others down. The garage lasted 32 years.
I wonder about the stability of the ground in the area and if there was a sink hole as a possible cause? The building is also by the water, so was it built on reclaimed, unstable land? The area could be sinking for many years and finally reached a critical point. And the sea water could have eroded the basic support columns. I understand there was some construction going on at the building.
The look of the building reminds me of OKC Murrah Building.
https://news.fiu.edu/2021/fiu-professor-collapsed-surfside-building-showed-signs-of-subsidence-in-90s-era-space-radar-data
So there was something going on in that area in general. Although based on this article, nothing so serious that you’d be worried about a collapse
Me too. It seems the most likely cause, although I wouldn’t rule out shoddy construction and deteriorating concrete.
Miami has been sinking, some areas now below sea level, so prone to flooding and a big citywide concern. Wouldn’t be surprised if the foundation failed because of this, but this was a catastrophic failure, not a slow and evident process which would be expected in a 40 y.o. structure.
Dave, “slowly at first, then all at once”.
Load is shared by supports. Take one out, for whatever reason, and that load is no longer supported. It will fall, and unbalance other portions of the structure.
On insty, there are guys from FL who speculate at length on salt air and rebar exposed by cracking. Beats me.
Catastrophic Boomer Filing Cabinet Malfunction.
Out here it’s serious prison time for engineers and site managers who are caught being negligent or fraudulent – unforgiving geotechnical conditions, plus insane amount of rain runoff and typhoons in summer will tend to do that.
Unfortunately as all good Cynics know, when the full majesty and might of the Law fixates in one area, the malfeasance just migrates one block over from where the Eye of Sauron is looking. So there is much more negligence, corruption, outright malfeasance in maintenance, inspection, and remediation of older buildings. Sauron has limited moral and financial resources after all. Perhaps that’s what’s happening in Florida.
Out here it’s serious prison time for engineers and site managers who are caught being negligent or fraudulent – unforgiving geotechnical conditions, plus insane amount of rain runoff and typhoons in summer will tend to do that.
The building was completed in 1981. I have a suspicion any suit or prosecution would be time-barred. If I’m reading the actuarial tables correctly, the probability that any given official responsible for the project’s design and construction is now deceased runs to about 60%.
Catastrophic Boomer Filing Cabinet Malfunction.
The median age of the population of working adults in 1981 was around 42 years. Your odds are better than even anyone culpable comes from older cohorts than that.
Sure. Maybe some lessons to be learned if there were design flaws or it turns out that there are discrepancies between what plans state and what rubble tells us — e.g. missing rebar, etc.
I’d be at least as interested in history of regular inspections, remediations, maintenance, surrounding site work in the interim — e.g.. any other foundation / underground carpark works. More fresh meat for tort lawyers to go after.
(The building was the filing cabinet. Boomers were the filed. I guess they should be thankful they don’t live in HK where one tends to end up filed in a multi-story Columbarium. Flatland is the preserve of the mega-rich.)
I would expect a “progressive” collapse with plenty of warning for anyone who cared to look. Crash-Boom means get out the rope, someone was asleep or paid off. “All Fall Down” school of engineering.
Traditionally, structures are over designed to allow for component failures. Cracks in pilars or floors mean that it is time to visit the kiddies. Crash-Boom and piles of bodies mean someone cheated.
The entire WTC and this gem seems to have had one “failure mode”; Everyone dies. This might track back to a financier who didn’t want to pay for anything that wasn’t essential. Rope. Prison. Life in a bag along a stinking river (destitution).
Sheer walls spoil the aesthetics. After the Northridge earthquake as I recall, there was a three story hospital in “pretty good shape” until I read that it used to be a four story building that had crushed the lobby-office area at ground level. The patients in the conventional upper floors got to ride the thing down and, I believe, mostly survived. The people in the ground-level glass box, not so much.
But the glass box was so pretty.
I can’t tell from the image that I have seen, but I’ll bet there was a pretty glass box lobby in the Miami condo. Everyone got to die in the finest style with a great view.
Pretty much all of Florida consists of young rather uncompacted sediments based on limey shell fragments called coquina. They pump out a lot of groundwater, with removes sediment support, further de-stabilzing it. If I had to guess, I would say this: Inadequate footings to stable strata, inadequate reinforcement bar in the cast cement construction (a design popular in the 80’s), and steadily advancing internal corrosion of same, as time went on. Portland cement is notorious for this, especially in areas with heavy salt sea-blast. It’s more porous then people realize, and prone to cracking as part of the natural curing process – providing ample pathways for salt water. When the top layer landed on the next one down, it was overloaded – becoming a case of gravity dominoes. A terrible tragedy that will hopefully drive more thorough periodic inspections, hopefully including imaging technology.
Indeed, below grade concrete is “always” wet and electrically conductive as steel, which is why ground fault (GFCI) protection is required in “unfinished” basements and why concrete encased ground rods work (Ufer grounds). If the “wet” is “salty”, unprotected reinforcing rod is vulnerable. Once the “bottom” fails, the rest is rubble and blood.
But it isn’t as if this is a novel finding. Reenforced concrete has been used in salt water areas since forever. The designer/engineer owns it. Prison or a noose will encourage the memory of the basics by others.
I am still surprised at the lack of a progressive failure that would have given time to evacuate. If a structure has an unusually short expected lifetime, failure warning must be built into the design even if the structure is “overbuilt” from the point of initial “strength”.
Cost can be a problem, but that is why some areas probably should not have high rise construction with below grade conventional re-bar concrete.
Prefab, coated, corrosion tolerant reinforcing, electrolytic protection, whatever. Innovation (and profit) or prison time. It is an easy choice. Selling a 12 story coffin to “suckers” is not an acceptable option.
Idiots buy FL beachfront condos.
They’re stupid places to live.
Collapsing Florida Condos is something out of a Carl Hiaasen novel. Just need a corrupt mayor, alligators in the basement, and a crazed Redneck or three to make it all come together.
I am a construction engineer and there are so many potential causes that I won’t even speculate. There will be a thorough investigation, and they will discover the cause or causes.
1981 was not a bad time for construction, Ten years later, the economy was overheated and there was a shortage of qualified construction personnel. Regardless, whether it was a construction or design failure, they will get to the bottom of it. The construction industry is more responsible and self-critical then most of you might think. Even with search and rescue operations ongoing, there are engineers there looking for clues and collecting material samples, photos, etc.
But the investigation will probably take months before a definitive conclusion is reached. When the final conclusions are published, it won’t be “news” any longer, to people other than construction professionals.
The building was the filing cabinet. Boomers were the filed.
That’s a stupid image.
I can’t tell from the image that I have seen, but I’ll bet there was a pretty glass box lobby in the Miami condo. Everyone got to die in the finest style with a great view.
Pieces of commercial architecture completed in the last 80 years which actually are handsome to look at are as rare as hen’s teeth.
I wonder about the stability of the ground in the area and if there was a sink hole as a possible cause?
One news article quoted a faculty member at Florida International University who said the building was determined to be unstable about a year ago.
“I’m not a structural engineer, but I’m having a hard time coming up with a scenario where such a building collapses in such a fashion in a random manner.”
Hidden design flaws can slowly weaken a structure over decades until it collapses. Wouldn’t be the first time, won’t be the last.
2 years ago here in the Netherlands several 20-30 year old parking garages suddenly collapsed, as a result of the investigation a lot more and several office buildings constructed using the same techniques were condemned as after investigation they were found to be on the point of collapse as well.
Luckily nobody died.
The specific technique used was ok, but NOT when used with the particular type of concrete used in those buildings…
How soon before Trump gets the blame?
@Mac Siccar,
DeSantis will be first. They’re just now searching for a “reason” that can be lied into conventional wisdom. They’ll find one, bottom feeders always do.
Slab and Jack construction was halted for this reason for a while then the process was updated… it tends to pancake when it goes…
Number Two Son is an architect. When he was in school, we recommended very strongly that he get a double-master’s in Civil Engineering.
AesopSpouse toyed with the idea of majoring in Mechanical Engineering for awhile, and came away impressed with this particular text.
http://assets.globalchange.gov/13f7/11-jerod-stamm-iii/e6xOhgikv-why-buildings-fall-down-how-structures-fail.pdf
Here’s another book on the same topic, a bit newer.
https://archive.org/details/StructuresOrWhyThingsDontFallDown
This post kind of summarizes some of what’s in the above books.
https://www.explainthatstuff.com/howbuildingswork.html
It was beachfront property. What’s that biblical story about building on sand?
There was construction going on beside it. I wouldn’t be surprised to find that excavation next door removed some side support for foundation piers. By itself, that shouldn’t be enough,but it could have been the straw.