SURFSIDE, Fla. — As the 14th day of searching came to a close, families and loved ones were informed during a private briefing that the search and rescue effort for live victims in the rubble that was once Champlain Towers South is coming to an end.
Fire authorities said Wednesday there is no longer hope that there are any survivors of the June 24 Surfside collapse.
Miami-Dade Fire Chief of Operations Ray Jadallah told families that the announcement was “some of the hardest news I’ve ever had to deliver in my professional career.”
The death toll in the Surfside collapse now stands at 46, after the most victims were found in any 12-hour or 24-period. Three of the victims identified Wednesday were engineer Simon Segal, 80, and Graciela and Gino Cattarossi, whose daughter and 7-year-old granddaughter also died in the collapse. Their other daughter, Andrea, is still missing.
Since the demolition of the remaining part of the building Sunday night, 22 victims have been recovered from the rubble, and officials have said the demolition of the remainder of the collapsed apartment building allows rescue workers to search a wider area. Significant removal of the pile has allowed rescuers to get into areas they couldn’t access before.
The switch to a recovery mission is imminent but will be more careful than many people assume.
“When we say recovery, people think that means a big bulldozer comes and takes all debris to a big warehouse ... it’s not the reality,” said Israeli Col. Golan Vach, who heads a specialized search and rescue unit of the Israel Defense Forces that is working with the South Florida crews. “The reality is that we work with machines, we know where to dig, where to look. We search by hand, we find the victims and the relatives and we pull them out very carefully.”
Jadallah said rescuers will continue searching the new areas. There are still 94 people missing in the rubble, and while several of the nine search grid sections have been “de-layered,” there are still other areas to be cleared.
“Remember that we’ve been in a search and rescue since day one,” Jadallah told the families Wednesday.
Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said during a briefing with reporters there were no work pauses in the rescue mission Wednesday, a welcome change from two lightning delays Tuesday.
A choked-up Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava spoke through tears at the briefing.
“Our first responders have truly searched that pile every single day since the collapse as if they were searching for their loved ones,” she said.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said crews are still investigating the sister condo building, Champlain Towers North, using ground radar and other technology to assess the structural integrity of the building, which was built around the same time by the same developer with the same types of materials.
He said the town plans to work with the north building to do a deep-dive on the structure, which has 24 units fewer than the 12-story south tower did. They were built one year apart and from the outside seemed of similar design.
Many residents were concerned enough about the south tower tragedy to move out, but some were not.
The north condo’s management company went door to door last week to survey residents. About half the building’s 113 units are unoccupied as second homes. Of the units that are occupied, half of the residents have left on their own accord, while the other half have stayed.
The Miami Foundation is providing resources to relocate those families since they do not qualify for federal aid.
Surfside Vice Mayor Tina Paul said Wednesday that several condo owners have reached out to her with concerns about the structural integrity of their own buildings, unrelated to the sister Champlain Tower condos. The town will be assisting in advanced geotechnical surveys to look at structural integrity, she said.
At a news conference in Tropical Storm Elsa in Tallahassee on Wednesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke of the determination of the rescue teams and the outpouring of community support.
“It’s going to be a deep wound for a long time,’‘ he said. “But as tragic as it’s been, I think the outpouring of support has shown a lot of great parts of our community.”
He said the members of the rescue teams from across the country “are leaving a very impressive legacy.”
“They get very invested in it and, so to see that, and to see that singularity of purpose, has really been heartening. ... I don’t think the state’s ever going to quite be the same.”
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(Miami Herald/Tampa Bay Times Tallahassee bureau chief Mary Ellen Klas contributed to this report.)
