A video of the Surfside building collapse has surfaced, taken from a few blocks away (Twitter)

[zuul]

Horrifying.

Link to tweet

[hlthe2b]

1. OMG! I saw that in Cairo after their worst earthquake in 1992... but they had few if any

building codes. This is just jaw-dropping.

[zuul]

2. 51 people are still unaccounted for.

Caroline Orr Bueno, Ph.D @RVAwonk

Update: Miami-Dade County Commissioner Sally Heyman tells @CNN that 51 people are still unaccounted for after the building collapse in Surfside, Florida.

9:32 AM · Jun 24, 2021

Link to tweet

[Blue_true]

22. I hope that most were traveling to sightsee or visit relatives.

The way those sections came down survival of anyone who has not already been found don’t look good.

[USALiberal]

3. Possible Higher water levels damage foundation??

[mopinko]

4. my thought also

salt water and concrete is NOT a good combo.

[highplainsdem]

6. Was wondering about that, too.

[BlueWavePsych]

12. Can't be! Climate change is a hoax!

[Quixote1818]

5. Shows that building 7 during 9/11 falling with no explosives can certanly happen

Should put that myth to rest but I am sure it won't.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

7. Many of them will instead argue...

... that the condo collapse was a demolition job too.

If they can ever find a resident who worked as a low-level coffee go-fer at local Clinton campaign headquarters in the past, they'll likely argue it was done to silence that person or whatever.

[Quixote1818]

8. Yep, you're 100% correct. That is exactly what will happen. nt

[ShazamIam]

9. Guess they should have followed those, pesky, building regulations. Does Florida have any?

[Andrew54125]

10. I can imagine

Sad news everywhere

[NCDem47]

11. I hope death came quick to those inside.

And they were asleep.

Horrible way to go being crushed.

God help their souls.

[LonePirate]

13. How are only 51 people unaccounted for? Dozens of residences were destroyed in seconds.

I’m also surprised this is not bigger news as this is a massive catastrophe.

[Wingus Dingus]

14. I feel the same way--this is nuts, that a tall building can just pancake

into the ground at a moment's notice for no apparent reason. And only 51 not accounted-for I guess means these condos were maybe only occupied seasonally (winter).

[Demovictory9]

15. mostly single or two people residences?

[Wingus Dingus]

16. Hopefully not many rented out to entire families

on vacation.

[dalton99a]

17. There are penthouses

Address: 8777 Collins Avenue

Built: 1981

Stories: 12 (the building stands about 160 feet tall)

Residences: The oceanfront building contained 136 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, according to real estate records. Most are between 1,200 and 2,243 square feet.

Price: Most condos range between $295,000 (for a one-bedroom in March 2020) to $980,000 (for a three-bedroom a year later), real estate records indicate. A four-bedroom penthouse spanning more than 4,500 square feet sold for almost $2.9 million earlier this year.

Other amenities: In addition to housing, the building offered terraces, a club room, tennis courts, fitness center, sauna, private beach, heated swimming pool, underground parking deck and 24-hour security.

[ShazzieB]

18. Wow, this sounds like a luxury building.

So supposedly well built, not thrown together with thumb tacks and duct tape.

Makes you wonder how many other "upscale" buildings down there are living on borrowed time. ;

[womanofthehills]

21. If you look on Zillow for ocean front condos on sale within a few blocks of that building

All go for between half million and almost 2 million with association fees of up to $1200 a month. Wealthy neighborhood.

[Blue_true]

24. I saw a number of pictures of the area around the collapsed sections.

It clearly looked like a very pricey area to me.

I live in Florida and have seen hotels going up. The construction is mostly heavy duty sheet metal type framing and some type of outside composite sheets on both sides of the framing. I would assume that the inside has plaster board attached to the inner composite sheet. Honestly, I would not feel comfortable living in such a structure.

[superpatriotman]

19. It's at 99 now

Per local news at five o’clock

[Blue_true]

23. Some of the units were likely owned by snowbirds.

They would have left Florida at the end of May. The units appear to be pricey. One New Jersey couple was supposed to be at their condo in one of the sections that fell, but an urgent business issue forced them to fly to New Jersey to address the issue. They were in New Jersey when their unit got demolished.

[ShazzieB]

26. Oh, good point!

Living "up north," I'm not familiar with the typical schedule of snowbirds and their movements.

I hope most of the "unaccounted for" people turn out to have been elsewhere when this happened. 🤞

[Blue_true]

27. I hope most were elsewhere.

There are some who had caretakers or relatives looking for them near the site, so those people likely were in the building when it fell.

[Bucky]

20. Something to look for by way of explanation of how & why this happened

Would be the issue of ground subsidence or ground shifting underneath the building. The building is over 30 years old and Florida wetlands may have not been as supportive of the foundation over that time that we would like.

[Blue_true]

25. It was built on spongy limestone.

The contractor supposedly sank pilings deep into the ground, but one can ask whether each made it to bedrock (harder limestone). If some of the pilings did not reach bedrock, then over decades the spongy limestone could compress of just dissolve.

[Yavin4]

28. If it's a sinkhole or climate change created disaster, wouldn't the other bldgs have similar or

even worse damage?