The chief building official for the town of Surfside, Florida, where Champlain Towers South collapsed last week, told residents the building was “in very good shape,” a month after he reviewed a report from a contractor that flagged “major structural damage.”
Ross Prieto, who left the role of chief building official last year, received the report assessing the building’s structural integrity two days before a meeting with residents in November 2018, according to an email from condo board member Mara Chouela to Prieto that was posted on the town’s website.
Chouela received the reports from Frank Morabito about the building on Oct. 8 and forwarded it to Prieto on Nov. 13, shortly before he reassured residents about the building, according to the Miami Herald, which cited the minutes report from the meeting.
EXPERT SAYS ‘CONCRETE’ CANCER’ MIGHT HAVE CAUSED CHAMPLAIN TOWER PARTIAL COLLAPSE
His comments to those residents contradicted Morabito’s report, which noted that “major structural damage” was in the concrete slabs below the pool deck. Morabito also discovered “abundant” cracking in the columns, beams, and walls of the parking garage, which is under the 13-story-building.
“Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” the report read. It also noted that structural repairs would be needed to maintain “the structural integrity” of the building.
A partial collapse of the 12-story building in Miami occurred last Thursday, with nine people confirmed dead and more than 150 people unaccounted for as rescue crews continue to search through the debris, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press conference on Sunday.
People in nearby buildings have been given the option to relocate with monetary assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, though there have not been any mandatory evacuations yet.
Over the weekend, Prieto told the Miami Herald he didn’t remember receiving Morabito’s report and that he wasn’t aware of what it said about the integrity of the structure.
“I don’t know anything about it,” he said. “That’s 2018.”
Prieto also declined to comment about the November 2018 board meeting, citing the advice of a lawyer.
In a separate email released on Sunday from the day after the November 2018 meeting, Prieto told Guillermo Olmedillo, then the town manager, that the meeting “went very well” and that the “response was very positive from everyone in the room.”
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Some families visited the scene of the collapse on Sunday, clinging to the hope that their loved ones would make it out alive. Cava called the visit “deeply emotional” for them, according to NBC Miami.
