As Tropical Storm Elsa approaches Florida, authorities there have accelerated plans to demolish what’s left of the Champlain Towers South building in the coming days, concerned that high winds could topple the partially collapsed 12-story condominium structure unsafely.
On Saturday evening, officials announced search and rescue efforts would pause temporarily so crews could prepare for demolition. Two more bodies were discovered overnight, raising the death toll to 24, with 121 people still missing.
#BREAKING: @MayorDaniella says #SurfsideBuildingCollapse search & rescue effort paused temporarily as crews prepare to demolish what remains of partially collapse Champlain Towers South ahead of T.S. Elsa.
She says standing structure poses threat to first responders. @nbc6 https://t.co/CrEyXQaIG0 pic.twitter.com/qBEPSJMTtO
— Ryan Nelson (@RyanNelsonTV) July 3, 2021
During a news conference, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said that the standing portions of the building could be demolished as early as Sunday. He said officials were concerned that Elsa, which has been downgraded from a hurricane, “might take the building down for us and take it down in the wrong direction on top of the pile where we have victims.”
“This will protect our search and rescue teams. We don’t know when it could fall over,” said Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. “With these gusts, that would create a real severe hazard.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Saturday that experts are evaluating the situation and preparing to demolish what’s left of the structure as soon as possible. On Friday, she signed an order to demolish the building.
“It is all of our fervent desire that this can be done safely before the storm so that we can direct the demolition,” said Levine Cava. “This demolition would be one that would protect and preserve evidence and allow maximum search-and-rescue activity to continue.”
According to CNBC, “The long-term forecast track shows Elsa heading toward Florida as a tropical storm by Tuesday morning, but some models would carry it into the Gulf or up the Atlantic Coast.”
Officials did not think it was possible to demolish the remains before Tuesday, but changed strategy after speaking with a demolition expert late Friday. Cava said CDI Controlled Demolition Inc., of Phoenix, Maryland, has been contracted for the job.
“The proposed demolition is a very narrow footprint so we’re not looking at major impacts to the area or additional evacuations,” she said. “We are still in the due diligence process.”
Late Friday, a county attorney said in a court filing that the remaining portion of the building is not structurally sound and is behaving in ways that indicate it may fall down, a county attorney said in a court filing late Friday.
Search and rescue crews were under “immediate threat” due to the building’s instability and Tropical Storm Elsa, which currently is in the Caribbean, said David Murray, the attorney for Miami-Dade County.
Murray’s court filing said a collapse of the remaining structure would “cause the release of hazardous household materials, particulate matter, and will pose fire risk.”
“An uncontrolled collapse of the structure — which is surrounded by residential property, and which is currently being worked and secured by hundreds of fire rescue personnel, police officers, and other government employees — poses significant risk to human life and property,” Murray wrote in the filing.
According to the Miami Herald, “Miami-Dade Fire Chief of Operations Ray Jadallah told family members, in a private briefing Saturday morning, that crews need up to 14 hours to prepare the building for demolition.”
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