Free Republic

Engineer Warned of ‘Major Structural Damage’ at Florida Condo ComplexA consultant in 2018 urged the managers to repair cracked columns and crumbling concrete. The work was finally about to get underway when the building collapsed. Three years before the deadly collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex near Miami, a consultant found alarming evidence of “major structural damage” to the concrete slab below the pool deck and “abundant” cracking and crumbling of the columns, beams and walls of the parking garage under the 13-story building. The engineer’s report helped shape plans for a multimillion-dollar repair project that was set...

The partially collapsed Florida condo building, which has left at least four dead and 159 people missing, was flagged as having “major structural damage” in 2018, according to reports. A lack of proper drainage on the pool deck of Champlain Towers South condo, which sits above the building’s parking garage, was the source of the “main issue,” wrote engineer Frank Morabito, according to the Miami Herald. Years of standing water had seriously damaged the concrete structural slabs below the deck, a problem Morabito warned would be “extremely expensive” to fix. “Failure to replace waterproofing in the near future will cause...

"Authorities are responding to Champlain Towers following a collapse of the 12-floor residential complex. There are reports of people screaming under the rubble. More to follow!"

FIU professor: Collapsed Surfside building showed signs of subsidence in ‘90sThe area where a building partially collapsed in Surfside, Fla. showed signs of land subsidence in the 1990s, according to space-based radar data analyzed by an FIU professor. The 2020 study conducted by FIU Institute of Environment Professor Shimon Wdowinski identified the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium as the one place on the east side of the barrier island where land subsidence was detected from 1993 to 1999. But land subsidence in and of itself likely would not cause a building’s collapse, according to Wdowinski, an expert in space geodesy,...

Joe Biden is not only acting like he’s unsure where he is half the time, but his “vice president’ is now giving him reminders in real-time at press conferences about the things that he should be doing and saying as “president.” At Thursday’s press conference, Biden was about to wrap his bizarre round of questions with reporters, when Kamala felt the need to step up and remind him about a tragic accident. “Mr. President, will you travel to Florida, sir?” a reporter asked. Biden apparently had no idea what he was talking about.” “Can we ask you about Florida, what...

Firefighters were extricating dozens of people from a battered high-rise condominium building near Miami on Thursday after part of the structure collapsed into a mammoth pile of rubble leaving at least one person dead, authorities said. Raide Jadallah, assistant fire chief of operations for Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, said 35 people were pulled from the partially collapsed building at Champlain Towers South. Two more were rescued from the debris, he said. More than 80 technical and rescue teams were on the scene in Surfside, a few miles north of Miami Beach. Watch the (CCTV) surveillance video of the moment when the...

D.C. police are searching for a pair of suspects who attacked a woman after she said she supported President Donald Trump. Police say the felony assault took place at around 1 a.m. on March 16 at the Surfside restaurant in the 1800 of N Street near Dupont Circle in Northwest D.C. According to the police report, the 29-year-old victim named Maricela said she overheard a conversation between the two female suspects and their male friend. She reported to police that she become involved in their conversation and stated, "I support Donald Trump.” "I’m a Trump supporter. I stood by my...