4 More Bodies Found At FL Condo Collapse: 16 Dead, 147 Missing

SURFSIDE, FL — Four more bodies have been pulled from the rubble of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South Condo, officials said Wednesday.

This brings the number of confirmed dead from Thursday's collapse to 16, with 147 people still missing and another 139 accounted for, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a Wednesday news conference.

Officials are no longer including the number of victims in the number of those accounted for, the mayor added. And the number of those reported missing changes as workers make calls to verify names on the list, a “very slow and methodical process,” she said. “The numbers are fluid and will continue to change.”

She asked that anyone with information about residents of the condo tower and whether they were in the building at the time of its collapse to call the family reunification hotline at 305-614-1819. Information about residents can also be submitted online through MiamiDade.gov/emergency.

As search-and-rescue efforts continue nonstop at the site Wednesday, the seventh day since the condo tower’s collapse, officials are also monitoring two storm systems that could affect Florida.

Contingency plans are being made in case severe weather — such as a hurricane or tropical storm — hits the state, Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said at Wednesday’s news conference.

A federal urban search-and-rescue team is being sent to Florida as a backup plan “to free up state assets (so they can) respond to a tropical cyclone” if a storm system develops, Guthrie said. Other contingency plans are also being made, such as facility relocations and access to additional equipment, so work at the site can continue even if the state is responding to a storm.

Throughout the search-and-rescue work being done in Surfside, the area has been hit with some inclement weather, posing additional challenges for first responders, Levine Cava said.

See Related Stories

• FL Condo Collapse: Grand Jury Investigation, Biden Plans Visit
• Grim Task Awaits Tampa Bay Rescue Task Force Deployed To Surfside
• The Phorce Is With Them As Rescue Workers Seek Survivors: Video
• 2 Chicago Men Among Those Missing In Florida Building Collapse
• Surfside Condo Collapse 'Wall Of The Missing'
• Neighbors 4 Neighbors' Surfside Building Collapse Victim Fund Helping Those In Need
• "I Do Know That Time Is Ticking': Search And Rescue Hangs On To Hope For Survivors
• Firefighters Working To Dig Through Condo Collapse Rubble In Need Of Food
• Sextant Stays Offers Up Free Temporary Housing For Surfside Condo Collapse Victims
• Condo Collapse: Former Maintenance Manager William Espinosa Was Concerned About Saltwater Intrusion