In case you don't realize how much of that Surfside Florida condo building has collapsed...

[Towlie]

Here are two Google Street View images taken from the beach in 2013. Some adjacent buildings have been torn down and replaced since then.

Surfside building from the south Surfside building from the north

Notice that there's a fairly large portion of the building on the south side that you can see in the first view but not in the second view. That portion of the building did not collapse.

Here's a screen capture from the WSVN video, view from the beach, north of the building:



Here's a close-up of the second Google Street View image, also from the beach, north of the building:



It appears to me that the portion of the building outlined in the following image is now gone:

[Demovictory9]

1. Omg..what a horror

[empedocles]

2. There is an 'underlying' story there

[FM123]

3. So horrible, I am still in shock.

I have been watching our local news all morning and I am afraid worse news is coming. It happened so quickly, in less than one minute while residents were sleeping. I am just heartbroken for these folks.

[TheBlackAdder]

7. I put a surveillance camera tweet below. The two sections completely fell in 14 seconds.

[FM123]

10. 14 seconds. Not enough time, just beyond heartbreaking.

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. Not quite.

From CNN:

[lagomorph777]

9. Horrible, but more like 10% of the building, not 75%.

[Dave says]

12. More like 30%

[lagomorph777]

21. You're right - I've watched the video now.

[JHB]

20. Look at the video in #6 below. A large portion of the building collapsed

Enough that one wing of it remained standing for a few seconds, then collapsed itself.

Look up 8777 Collins Ave, Surfside FL in Google Maps or something similar, and use a satellite view to see what the building looks like before yesterday.

Then take another look at that photo.

[lagomorph777]

22. Yeah - the video does tell a different story.

Horrible!

[whopis01]

30. I would say more like 50%

[Tommy Carcetti]

34. No, it was probably 2/3rds of the building that collapsed.

That entire other collapsed wing was much larger than the one that remained standing.

[Act_of_Reparation]

45. Yeah, I see that now.

Wow.

[Klaralven]

23. About 55 of the building's 135 units have collapsed.

https://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2021/06/24/condo-building-collapses-near-miami-beach.html

About 40% of the units, and they would have been the more expensive ones nearer the beach with a better view.

[Takket]

27. If you look at the before satellite shot...

About 60-70% of the building collapsed.

[PatSeg]

33. That is horrifying

Hard to imagine anyone surviving that.

[TheBlackAdder]

6. Here is security camera footage of the collapse.

.

WSVN 7 News
@wsvn
JUST IN: 7News has obtained surveillance video of the moment the Champlain Towers South Condo collapsed in Surfside early this morning.

According to a fire official, 35 people were pulled from the collapsed building. Search and rescue efforts ongoing. https://wsvn.com/news/local/1-d

Link to tweet

.

[pidge]

8. Oh my God.........terrifying.

[GoCubsGo]

11. That brings back some really awful memories of almost 20 years ago.

Holy shit.

[Dave says]

15. Yes

Less than a year later, I moved out of NYC because of 9-11. I still can vividly recall the events of the day, but I am already triggered by what I see in Miami.

[TheBlackAdder]

17. Tell me about it. I saw both planes hit and the first tower fall. I beat feet out of Jersey City.

.

Minutes after I left Harborside, they locked down the streets. This was the only time I remember the NJ Turnpike waving tolls.

.

[JHB]

24. Yikes! For those who don't know, Harborside is directly across the Hudson from the WTC

So, about a mile away, no obstructions, and it was a crystal clear day.

Usually a nice place for watching the river, but usually there isn't a nightmare happening.

[Dave says]

13. That is so horrible and sad

[MineralMan]

14. The entire building will have to be condemned

and demolished. Condo insurance for individual owners does not cover structural issues. It covers the inside of your unit. The building owners may or may not have insurance that covers the building itself.

Losses are going to be high for owners of condos in that building, assuming they survive. Owners of condos in the rest of the building will lose their investments, as well, at least what is not covered by their individual insurance policies.

[Towlie]

28. That was Champlain Towers South. Champlain Towers East and Champlain Towers North are nearby...

 
←

... where the condo units will no doubt soon be up for sale at extremely low prices.

Champlain Towers East and Champlain Towers North

[MineralMan]

29. I'll bet they will. I wonder what the investigation will show

as the cause of the collapse. Probably ground subsidence (sinkhole), which is pretty common in Florida. Most likely, the building was built with inadequate foundations at the time. They might have met the standards of that time, but those standards have probably been made more strict by now.

We'll see, I suppose.

[Klaralven]

40. Apparently the buildings in Miami sit on Miami Limestone, which is recent, weak, and porous

Abstract

The techniques and peculiarities are reviewed regarding the design and construction of shallow foundations bearing in the Miami Limestone. The thickness and lateral extent of the Miami Limestone are illustrated. The geologic characteristics of this formation are presented, and the types and properties of Miami Limestone are explored. Methods of analysis for shallow foundation design are described, and construction problems and difficulties are considered with case histories. Several criteria are suggested for evaluating shallow foundations bearing in the Miami Limestone. Because this limestone is variable in strength, porosity and thickness, an adequate investigation of these properties should be conducted prior to foundation construction at each particular site.

https://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/AJGEB6.0001166

It is little wonder that this 62-story, $500 million behemoth—which, it should be noted, contains only 84 units—took five years to complete. Since it wasn’t feasible to excavate down to bedrock, the project had to compensate for Miami’s spongy limestone stratum by drilling 227 individual shafts for piles 177 feet deep, setting a county record in the process.

https://www.metropolismag.com/architecture/residential-architecture/zaha-hadid-miami/

[Larissa]

46. Not saying this was the cause

No cause has yet been determined, but your comment brought this to mind. I'm praying.

Smithsonian Magazine: The Science Behind Florida's Sinkhole Epidemic
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/science-behind-floridas-sinkhole-epidemic-180969158/

[Buckeye_Democrat]

16. The most-northern section of the building...

... looks completely flat from above, with the roof still visible.

Absolutely horrible! Hard for me to imagine any survivors who were inside that section.

[Politicub]

18. Someone in another building close-to or at the same complex

said that there was heavy construction equipment on top of the building.

I didn’t see it in the brief security cam footage, though.

[Klaralven]

26. It has happened before --

The I-35 bridge collapse in Minneapolis, for example:

The NTSB also found that nearly 300 tons of construction equipment and materials stockpiled on the bridge deck for the ongoing repair work contributed to the collapse by further stressing the crucial gusset plate that failed.

https://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/540669701/10-years-after-bridge-collapse-america-is-still-crumbling

[frazzled]

36. This is why I have always been terrified (actually, phobic) about being stuck on a bridge

in heavy traffic. The I-35 bridge collapse only confirmed that the seemingly irrational fears I'd harbored for years were actually not so irrational.

I still hold my breath when stopped on a bridge. There is a moderate-sized one near my building with a stop light at the end. I always try not to get stuck on that bridge when the light is red. Crazy? Maybe. But it's my thing.

[Treefrog]

41. I'm not wild about bridges either.

I hear you!

[PETRUS]

43. Around 1974 or 1975 my dad was driving on a bridge that collapsed.

He suffered no serious injuries (his vehicle fared worse). The authorities present let him take a piece of the bridge home as a souvenir.

[RockRaven]

32. I've seen that the mayor said the roof was being worked on. No details beyond that, though.

[ZonkerHarris]

19. Republicans own the building codes in FL. This is on them.

[SheltieLover]

25. Beyond words...

[RockRaven]

31. The collapsed portion accounts for 55 of the 136 units in the building.

At least according to Wikipedia, at the time of this writing (with current/developing events Wikipedia pages are very dynamic).

Also as of this writing, 35 people pulled out of the rubble. 1 dead, 11 injured. 51 still missing.

[Johnny2X2X]

35. The video is shocking

I hope the most of the 51 missing were away from their building that night.

[Treefrog]

42. So many leave Florida during the summer months. I'm hoping this will be the case here.

But it looks very grim right now.

[Towlie]

37. Governor Ron DeathSentence has arrived to do something, but I'm not exactly sure what.

 
←

[hatrack]

38. Probably to quiz residents on their political beliefs

[BlueWavePsych]

39. Eroded foundation due to rising seas? Nah!

[Wingus Dingus]

44. If you are in a tall building anywhere in that part of the state, you really

have to hope they figure out the cause pretty soon--these poor people went to bed last night and their world literally fell down with no warning. I can't imagine what went through the minds of the people in the second section that collapsed--they had unfortunately a little bit of time to process the catastrophe before it struck again.