Engineer raised concerns about ‘major structural damage’ at Florida building a few years before collapse

It further noted that “the replacement of the existing deck waterproofing will be extremely expensive…be disruptive and create a major disturbance to the occupants of this condominium building.”

The report, the goal of which was to “understand and document the extent of structural issues,” detailed signs of “distress/fatigue” in the parking garage.

“Abundant cracking and spalling of various degrees was observed in the concrete columns, beams and walls. … Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion.”

Spalling is a term used to describe areas of concrete that have cracked or crumbled.

The 2018 report also noted that “many of the previous garage concrete repairs” were “failing.”

The report, which didn’t give any indication that the structure was at risk of collapse, was completed by Frank Morabito with Morabito Consultants. CNN on Friday reached out to Morabito Consultants, who offered no comment.

An attorney for the building’s condominium association, Kenneth Direktor, previously warned against early speculation. The building, he told CNN on Friday, had been subject to a series of inspections “over the last several months” as part of its milestone 40-year safety certification process.

“Nothing like this was foreseeable,” Direktor said. “At least it wasn’t seen by the engineers who were looking at the building from a structural perspective.”

CNN reached out to Direktor on Saturday for comment.

On Saturday morning, CNN asked Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava about the report.

“We need all this information, we need all this evidence, and we are going to get to the bottom of what happened at this particular building,” she said.

Officials have not determined a cause of the collapse.

The building was undergoing the certification process, and the board only knew what the engineer’s certification report included in terms of repair work, she said.

Donna DiMaggio Berger, an attorney for the Champlain Towers condo association, said board members did not know any information that would have foreshadowed Thursday’s disaster.

“Typical things that an engineer looks for in a certification report in Miami-Dade and Broward County, which are the two counties that require this kind of certification, is a review of the roof, the HVAC system, electrical, plumbing, and the building envelope,” Berger told CNN.

“But certainly, there was nothing hazardous that was outlined in that report, anything that would have proven to be a danger to life.”

A class-action lawsuit filed Thursday claims that the association of the collapsed condo is responsible for “failures to secure and safeguard” the lives and property of condo owners.

Direktor responded on behalf of the association saying, “I don’t know what caused this building to fall down … The engineers don’t know with certainty what caused this building to fall down.”

Rescuers still searching

While anxious family members awaited some news — and the search continued through the night — officials urged for a powerful sentiment: Hope.

“I am holding out hope because our first responders tell me they have hope,” Levine Cava told CNN. “They are the ones on the ground. They are in the tunnels; they’re in the water; they’re on top of the rubble pile. They’re helping to sift through using the cameras, the dogs, the sonar, and they say they have hope.”

Three of the four victims have been identified, according to Dr. Emma Lew, director of the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department. One victim died at a hospital. No other information was provided Friday.

About 55 of the 136 units at the building a few miles north of Miami Beach collapsed at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, leaving huge piles of rubble on the ground and materials dangling from what remained of the structure, officials said.

Thirty-five people were rescued from standing portions of the building by first responders, Jadallah said Thursday.

The number of people unaccounted for rose to at least 159 from 99, Cava said Friday. She added the figure refers to those who may have been within the complex.

“So those are people that maybe live there, but we don’t know whether they were there at the time,” Cava said.

Officials do not know how many people were in the building at the time of the collapse, Surfside Town Manager Andy Hyatt said.

“I had actually called them to tell them I had just booked a flight to come visit because they’ve been asking me to come see their home and to meet their daughter I haven’t met her due to the pandemic,” Sarina Patel said.

They were home at the time the collapse took place, Sarina Patel told Cuomo.

“We have tried calling them countless of times and there’s just been no answers, text messages, nothing,” she said. “They haven’t contacted anybody.”

Mystery over the cause of the collapse

The cause of the collapse remains unknown, and an expert told CNN that the conclusion could take months.

Kobi Karp, an architect and Miami resident, said forensic engineering will be required to determine the cause.

“This is an event that we have never had before. You can look at it; you can speculate how it happened. But at the end of the day, it will take us months to figure out,” he explained.

He added that a portion of the building collapsing while the other stood is a “mystery.”

“At the end of the day for this to crash like this is a very unique and special situation,” Karp said.

Structural engineer Kit Miyamoto also spoke to CNN on Friday night about possible causes, including that it could be corrosion of the metal inside the column, or settlement or sinking of one area of ground at a different rate than others, or a combination of different factors.

“The question is why the column failed?” he said. “A building is actually hard to collapse. There’s a lot of redundancies in the building system. That’s why you don’t see collapses like this.”

Miyamoto pointed out that even in places like California where big earthquakes are common, collapses such as this are extremely rare.

Search efforts continued throughout the night, with crews from Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue working alongside three other state task forces, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Comisky said. International crews from Mexico and Israel arrived on the scene to help on Friday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it sent three Urban Search and Rescue teams to assist with the search.

Additionally, structural engineers have been shoring up other places — such as areas near a parking garage underneath the rubble — to allow crews to tunnel underneath with light machinery.

“We have the best people for the job, and we have the right people for the job. The people who are here are highly skilled and trained,” Cava said. “They continue to believe that there are people that they can reach.”