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The provisional balance of the tragedy is four dead and there are still 159 without locating
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An engineer three years ago warned of “major structural damage” at the apartment building in South Florida that collapsed Thursday. The report pinpointed the problems to the slab below the pool deck, and detailed abundant cracks and collapses in the underground parking lot.
A portion of the 12-story, 136-apartment complex, located on the beachfront in Miami’s suburb of Surfside, collapsed while its residents slept for reasons that are still unknown. The deaths of four people have been confirmed so far and the whereabouts of another 159 are still unknown, in whose search firefighters and emergency services continue to work 24 hours a day and amid the rubble.
“We have found a very large fire and we are trying to put it out to continue with the search, the fire is still alive,” said Daniella Levine Cava, mayor of Miami-Dade County, at a press conference this Saturday. At the press conference, where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was also present, it was reported that rescue crews “have not stopped removing debris to search for people” throughout the night.
For your repair
The report that warned of the risks is from October 2018, it is signed by the consulting engineer Frank Morabito and was intended for the repair of the property that was scheduled to start up soon, more than two and a half years after it was warned managers of the building, which opened in 1981. The report says most of the damage was likely caused by years of exposure to corrosive salty air off the South Florida coast.
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Morabito did not give any indication that there was a danger of collapse, but pointed out that a series of repairs had to be carried out in order to “maintain the structural integrity” of the building. “Although part of this damage is minor, most of the deterioration of the concrete must be repaired in a timely manner,” Morabito said at the time.
The lawyer representing the residents of the building, Kenneth S. Direktor, has assured that the works were scheduled to begin this year.
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