An engineer found serious structural damage to the Florida condominium complex years before it collapsed Thursday.
The engineering consultant, Frank Morabito, wrote a report citing “major structural damage” in October 2018. City officials did not release the report until late Friday, a day after part of the building collapsed.
Search-and-rescue efforts by first responders are underway following the partial collapse of the 12-story building in Miami, which left four dead and as many as 159 unaccounted for, while building analysts and experts are seeking to determine the cause of the structural failure.
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The “major structural damage” was in the concrete slabs below the pool deck, and there was “abundant” cracking in the columns, beams, and walls of the parking garage, which is under the 13-story building, Morabito’s report found.
“Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” the report read, noting that structural repairs would be needed so they could continue “maintaining the structural integrity” of the building.
He did not specifically write in his report that the building was at risk of collapsing.
“These documents will enable the Condominium Board to adequately assess the overall condition of the building, notify tenants on how they may be affected, and provide a safe and functional infrastructure for the future,” Morabito wrote.
The waterproofing below the pool deck and the entrance drive were failing and “causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas” and “failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” the report read.
Morabito also said that “abundant cracking and spalling of varying degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams, and walls.”
Officials are unclear about what caused the building to collapse.
The repairs that the building needed were set to start later in 2021.
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Eliana Salzhauser, a local commissioner, said it was “upsetting” to see the three-year-old report that could have prevented the building’s collapse had the repairs been made in a more timely fashion.
“It’s upsetting to see these documents because the condo board was clearly made aware that there were issues,” Salzhauer said. “And it seems from the documents that the issues were not addressed.”
Champlain Towers South was built in 1981 and developed by Champlain Towers South Associates. The project started after the developers paid the town of Surfside $200,000 in 1979 to cover half the cost for another sewer system after the previous one degraded.
