Horrible Condo Collapse

[Basil]

Ok, maybe lets get back on topic. Last I heard there were something like 159 either dead or unaccounted for. Anyone hear any more on whether any survivors yet?

 

[John Turney]

Latest is five dead, 156 missing.

 

[Basil]

I imagine the recovery effort is quite treacherous.

 

[JPSmit]

Oh geez, look what you started, @JPSmit

can't really do a smiley in this thread - though I appreciate the injection of a bit of humour into a very sad situation.

 

[70herald]

I imagine the recovery effort is quite treacherous.

I was in a unit which specialized in these types of rescues in the Israeli Army. Basically we could be called for any building disaster. (My unit was reserve and fortunately never needed - there are a few specialized very dedicated units one of which is always on call. - They just sent several experts to Fl.) VERY treacherous. Lots of different detection systems, such as microphones (more useful than cameras), vibration detectors, dogs all of which can be brought is to find survivors or victims.
The big problem they are having right now is that the pile is not stable, and this endangers both rescuers and any potential survivor. Apparently they have already had to evacuate the site a few times because of shifting concrete piles. To even get started they need to use airbags / jacks etc and get wooden block in between some to the larger concrete plates to stabilize the pile.
We went about rescues like this in one of two methods either pealing back layer by layer or tunneling in. Tunneling in requires building up welded supports to create a rescue tunnel and then using a concrete hole saw or chain saw for concrete to open up a few more feet of crawl space. Crawling into a tiny tunnel filled with welding smoke is enough to make anyone claustrophobic, running a hydraulic powered chain saw lying on your stomach in a tiny tunnel.. no words for that.

 

[bobhustead]

News this morning of a surveillance camera catching slight parking garage and under pool settlement just before. Also of a now missing woman talking on phone to her husband mentioning that a hole had suddenly appeared on the pool deck, followed by loss of the phone connection. At the time of hurricane Andrew, news came out of hotels on Key Biscayne built on "compressed sand" pilings. Don't know what that was about.

Bob

 

[Bayless]

That looks almost identical to the rubble and remaining structure of the federal building bombing in OKC in '95. It took a long time to find the 168 who were lost in that one for the same reasons that 70herald mentioned. This will also be a slow, painful process.

 

[Sherlock]

From watching the news from up here in Alberta, it sounds like after that 2018 report no one should have ever been in the building

Here in Calgary there was one skyscraper that was closed due to structural issues, it was a parkade and some ground floor businesses, no residential, but all the businesses had to shutter while the work was done... Safety first!

 

[GregW]

Well, I've heard the parking area and pool (ground floor) started to cave in before the building. That screams sink hole to me. If that is the case, no amount of repairs would be enough. The 2018 repairs were estimated at 9 million.

 

[Sherlock]

Well, I've heard the parking area and pool (ground floor) started to cave in before the building. That screams sink hole to me. If that is the case, no amount of repairs would be enough. The 2018 repairs were estimated at 9 million.

I had not heard that part, but then I live a long way away in a different country

 

[waltesefalcon]

That looks almost identical to the rubble and remaining structure of the federal building bombing in OKC in '95. It took a long time to find the 168 who were lost in that one for the same reasons that 70herald mentioned. This will also be a slow, painful process.

That's exactly what I thought when I first saw it.

 

[Basil]

Pool contractor photographed severe damage two days prior to collapse.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/miami-beach/article252421658.html