Dramatic Video Reveals What Happened Moments Before Miami Condo Collapse
On Thursday, June 24, the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, near Miami Beach, became national news when the building partially collapsed. There have been 10 confirmed deaths with 151 people still missing as of June 28.
Rosie Santana is a resident at the building, but was not in her condo when the tragedy occurred. Home security footage captured insider her unit shows what happened in the seconds just before the building collapsed — taking her condo unit down into the rubble.
White, hail-like debris from the collapsing structure can be seen and heard pelting her living room, before the camera abruptly goes dark after 13 seconds.
“I am a resident of one of the condos on the side of the collapse,” Santana wrote, less than three hours after the 1:30 a.m. catastrophe.
“This is a video from my camera footage inside from the start of the collapse until the loss of connection (I was away from the building today). Towards the end, you hear the structure failing.”
NY Post
Watch the video here:
The collapse of the building is a tragedy, one that possibly could have been avoided. According to the NY Post, the building has been sinking for decades, and inspectors had visited the building as recently as Wednesday.
Engineers assessing the collapse say early indications suggest the building failed as the result of a “foundation-related matter.”
“It does appear to start either at or very near the bottom of the structure,” Donald O. Dusenberry, a consulting engineer with 45 years of experience investigating structural collapses, told the New York Times.
“It’s not like there’s a failure high and it pancaked down,” he continued, adding that “you certainly can’t rule out a design or construction error that has survived for 40 years.”
The Sun
It’s devastating to think that this tragedy was caused by laying an improper foundation. It’s even more devastating to think that it all could have been avoided.
