Rescuers began the eleventh day since the partial building collapse at Surfside by making preparations for the controlled demolition of the rest of the building, which officials said is planned between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m., ahead of Tropical Storm Elsa’s potential arrival to Florida.
County authorities didn’t evacuate the Surfside neighborhood that surrounds the remaining structure of Champlain Towers South. Instead, residents between 86th Street and 89th Street from Abbot Avenue and the shoreline are being told to plan to remain inside, with the air-conditioning switched to re-circulation settings and windows closed, once the demolition countdown begins.
“We encourage you to close all of the windows and the doors and all air intakes, and to cover all other openings that may allow dust to enter,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.
During a morning briefing at the county’s Emergency Operations Center in Doral, Levine Cava said search and rescue teams have stopped work at the site ahead of the demolition but are expected to get back to work immediately after it is deemed safe.
“This is an Independence Day unlike any we have experienced ever before,” Levine Cava said.
Levine Cava said the demolition will use “strategic” explosives designed to bring down the remaining structure using gravity, within the footprint of its existing walls. She said there might be noise and dust and residents have been advised to stay indoors between 7 p.m. and at least two hours after the blast.
Kevin Guthrie, head of emergency management for Florida, said he expects search efforts to resume “minutes” after the demolition. “Within a matter of minutes... they will be back on the scene,” he said. He stressed authorities have a “high degree of confidence” that the building will fall and that no debris will land in the parts of the rubble that have still not been searched.
As for Elsa, Levine Cava said, “we pray for limited impact.”
The number of dead remains at 24, while 121 remain missing, Levine Cava announced. On Sunday evening, Miami-Dade police identified David Epstein, 58, as the latest victim in the collapse.
TELLING THE FAMILIES ABOUT DEMOLITION
Earlier on Sunday, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Ray Jadallah told family members of the victims of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South Condo that the demolition of the rest of the building will likely happen some time late Sunday night.
A demolition plan for the portion of the building that remains standing was hastened by the approach of Tropical Storm Elsa and fears that the unstable structure might come down in an uncontrolled fashion.
Jadallah said workers were in the process Sunday evening of inserting explosive devices in holes they drilled into some of the building’s lower columns on the first and second floor. The plan, he said, is for the building to implode in place “and a little bit” into Collins Avenue.
Workers will use a six-inch neoprene barrier to distinguish the current rubble mound rescuers have been searching through from the new pile that will result from the demolition, he said. After the demolition, workers will check that all detonators went off and wait for the dust to settle. About fifteen to 60 minutes after the demolition, “all operations will begin on the entire pile,” Jadallah said, noting that rescue teams will be able to access new areas that have not been searched on the west side of the pile and in the underground garage.
He said police will block off the area for the demolition and asked that no one attempt to get close to the site to watch the operation. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue will not record the demolition live, he said.
“If you’re going to attempt to go to see it, you’re not going to be able to see it,” he said. “So if you want to see it, I recommend that you ... see it on the news.”
Levine Cava said that although explaining the demolition has forced some “difficult conversations” with families of victims and survivors, many also understand the limitations the remaining structure has placed on rescue efforts.
“I think there’s a great deal of understanding,” said Levine Cava.
SEARCH EFFORT TO RESUME ALMOST IMMEDIATELY
Jadallah said search and rescue operations are planned to resume within an hour after the controlled implosion, and hopefully first responders would then be able to access areas of the property they had not been able to reach up until now.
The demolition will likely start from the front of the building and the rubble is expected to fall onto Collins Avenue, Jadallah said.
Miami-Dade Police Director Freddy Ramirez III said his department has a system to allow survivors and family members of missing persons to log in lost property with the police department in case it can be recovered before or after the demolition. It is unlikely anyone will be let inside the remaining structure to collect anything that was left behind.
“I don’t see that happening. It is still a very dangerous site,” Ramirez said.
He said rescuers have been covering items they’ve come across along the way — including what could be family heirlooms lost in the disaster. They are being collected and logged to hopefully be returned to their owners or close relatives at a later date, Ramirez said.
NO PETS FOUND IN THE REMAINING PARTS OF THE BUILDING
Ever since news emerged regarding the demolition, residents and animal rights advocates alike have flooded the inboxes of county officials to prevent it from happening before all pets have been found.
But “as an animal lover and pet owner myself,” Levine Cava stressed that no pets have been found. Rescuers have made thorough searches through the remaining building, including three full sweeps through it — looking in closets and under beds — while using animal life traps and thermal technology in unsafe areas.
She said she was empathetic with survivors who have lost all of their belongings and the possibility of finding a pet is crucial, but also emphasized she went to great lengths to make sure there were no animals left before the demolition.
“We’re deeply deeply concerned and empathetic about how extraordinarily difficult this time is for them and their families,” she said.
SOME SURFSIDE RESIDENTS THINK OF LEAVING AHEAD OF THE DEMOLITION
By Sunday afternoon, a trickle of visitors, passerby, and bikers out for Sunday rides made their way past the tragedy’s makeshift memorial on Harding Avenue to pay their respects, or simply catch a glimpse of the site of one of the deadliest accidents in U.S. history.
But for many Surfside residents, Sunday meant making plans to escape the impact of the evening’s scheduled demolition.
Justin Schultz, 47, lives in a typical Surfside ranch house — though his is adorned with solar panels — on the 8900 block of Abbott Avenue with his wife and young son. They moved from Miami Beach four years ago to start a family and pursue their “little slice of paradise.”
This week, their home found itself in the shadow of tragedy. By Sunday, the nightmare hadn’t ended: Schultz said he and his family were just on their way out of town in advance of the planned knock-down. He said he didn’t know when they’d return — “until things settle down,” he said.
“It’s a town of 4,000 that always felt like 40 — and now it’s the worst kind of tourist attraction,” Schultz said of Surfside. “We all knew each other — and everyone knows someone who has been affected. It’s been gut-wrenching and heart-breaking.”
It appeared some of Schultz’s neighbors had already cleared out: Knocks on the doors of multiple nearby houses went unanswered.
Chiara Mauriziano, 20, has lived in Champlain Towers South’s sister building, Champlain Towers East, since January, though her condo has been in her family for some two decades. She said authorities recommended they leave the area for the rest of the day, though she said she planned to return later that evening, as soon as the demolition ended.
Given what she’d experienced in the past week, the night out was no problem at all.
“We’re relaxed now,” she said about any concerns she had at this point. “They said our building is safe.”
‘KEEP GOING NO MATTER WHAT.’ PRAYING AT BUILDING’S MEMORIAL
On Sunday morning, Michael Benmeleh, from Aventura, was sitting on a sidewalk across the street from the memorial set up along a fence on Harding Avenue.
From his vantage point, you can look down 88th Street and see the wreckage of the Champlain Towers South building, and some mangled balconies on the structure that, as of Sunday afternoon, still stood.
He was reading from the Talmud, participating in Daf Yomi, which entails reading one page from the Jewish holy book each day for seven and a half years. But on Sunday, he was taken aback by the passage he turned to as he sat beneath the hot sun. The topic: A collapsed building.
By reading the passage, Benmeleh said he hopes to at least send the souls of the dead to heaven, and to pray that some people may be found alive.
“Basically the idea is, they try to go through long conversations understanding, number one, if there are no people alive on the top, do you stop searching or do you continue going all the way to the bottom?” he said. “The answer is you don’t stop, keep going no matter what it takes to save a life. God willing, with the power of the prayer and the Torah, we can elevate the souls, and you never know, maybe another miracle.”
Another person praying at the site was Joe LaCognata, chaplain for the firefighters of Florida Task Force 8 from the Ocala and Gainesville area. The team, which arrived last Sunday, hung a shirt they all signed on the fence, and it’s now there among the various photos, prayers, biblical passages and messages of hope placed at the site since the building collapsed June 24.
“This is overwhelming for all of us. We came here to do one small part. The number of people who are here supporting, and helping and giving, it’s amazing. I’ve never been part of something like this. It is amazing to see what takes place, but, I get to go home to my family again,” LaCognata said.
LaCognata is not a firefighter. His job is to pray and look out for the well being of the men and women who’ve been searching on top of the rubble for the past week looking for survivors and the dead.
“They’re doing all right. They know what their mission was, and they stayed focused,” he said. “They keep on task.”
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