Jason Delgado
The death toll at the collapsed oceanside condominium in Surfside climbed Sunday from five to to nine, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced.
“We were able to recover four additional bodies in the rubble, as well as additional human remains,” the mayor said at a morning press conference.
Emergency crews discovered the bodies as they removed chunks of concrete from the pile where the 12-story structure once stood.
More than 150 people, meanwhile, remain unaccounted for.
“This is going to be a rescue mission for the indefinite future,” said Surfside Mayor Charles Burket. “We are not stopping until we pull every resident out of that rubble.”
While the cause of the collapse remains unknown, a recently surfaced 2018 engineering report detailed “major structural damage” within the oceanfront condominium.
Among other findings, the report uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.
Some of the damage was minor, while other columns had exposed and deteriorating rebar. It also noted that many of the building’s previous attempts to fix the columns and other damage with epoxy were marred by poor workmanship and were failing.
In all, an engineering firm estimated that major repairs the building needed would cost more than $9 million.
Early Sunday, Cava told Meet the Press she’s ordered an audit of all building 40 years and older in the area.
Emergency workers including members of the Israeli Defense Force are working around the clock to recover survivors within the rubble.
State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis said crews are fortifying a trench within the pile that can serve as an access point and fire trench for responders. The trench, Patronis said, is 120 feet long and 20 feet wide.
The Red Cross and state search and rescue teams are also on-scene.
“We are drowning in resources,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters Sunday. “We don’t have a resource problem, we have a luck problem. We need better weather, fewer fires.”
