Surfside death toll climbs to 36 as investigations and legal working groups form

The Surfside condos were flawed from the start.

The death toll from the collapsed Champlain Towers South condominium rose to 36 Tuesday evening as crews continued searching through rubble in Surfside amid worsening weather due to Tropical Storm Elsa.

Workers have now removed 124 tons of debris from the collapsed site. Throughout Tuesday, impacts from the storm, including over 30-mile-per-hour winds and lightning that forced a mandatory two-hour pause, hampered search and rescue efforts.

Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during an afternoon press conference that in addition to four victims found by Tuesday morning, four more bodies were uncovered in the wreckage.

There are still 109 people unaccounted for who went missing early June 24, when half of the structure came crashing down. County officials said they can only confirm that 70 of them were in the building when it fell.

State-hired demolition contractors brought the remaining portion down Sunday night, permitting workers access to areas previously blocked or deemed too perilous to enter.

While a glimmer of hope remains, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky tempered expectations.

“We’re actively searching as aggressively as we can,” he told reporters. “Unfortunately, we’re not seeing anything positive. The key things – voids, living spaces – we’re not seeing anything like that.”

The county’s Family Assistance Center is continuing to harness the aid of some 25 agencies, including FEMA and the Support Surfside Fund, which is providing up to $5,000 to families to help people through the “terrible tragedy,” Levine Cava said, adding that 178 families have been served so far.

She said her office is working with the state “to streamline the process of submitting insurance claims.”

Criminal and civil investigations into the collapse are already open. Levine Cava said yesterday that she expects them to “continue over a long period.”

State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle has promised to bring the issue before grand jurors, and there are at least five lawsuits now filed on behalf of residents who either survived or remain missing.

And while myriad questions about the building’s collapse 13 days ago remain unanswered, some organizations are at work to ensure nothing like it ever happens again.

One such group is the Probate and Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar, which announced Tuesday evening the creation of the Condominium Law and Policy on Life Safety Task Force.

Bill Sklar, the former chairman of the Florida Bar’s Condominium and Planned Development Committee, will lead the group.

In a prepared statement, section Chair Bob Swaine said the task force “will serve as a resource for the Governor and Legislature as they review all aspects of Florida condominium law, development, association operations, and maintenance to determine and recommend if legislation (and/or) regulatory changes should be enacted to minimize the likelihood of a similar tragedy.”