FL Condo Collapse: Work Resumes At Surfside, 18 Dead, 145 Missing

SURFSIDE, FL — One week after the partial collapse at the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo in Surfside, search-and-rescue efforts at the site came to a halt overnight Thursday due to structural and safety concerns.

Work was on hold at the site for about 15 hours and didn't resume until just before 5 p.m., the Associated Press reported.

“We were forced to halt operations on the collapse in the early hours of the morning due to structural concerns about the standing structure,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a Wednesday morning news conference. “We’re doing everything we can to ensure the safety of our first responders is paramount and to continue search and rescue (efforts).”

Work at the site came to a stop just after 2 a.m. Thursday because of concerns about the building’s stability, Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said. “We’ve been working in a very, very unsafe environment.”

As structural engineers monitored cracks in the building, there were signals that it was expanding and unsafe for work to continue, the fire chief said.

Related: FL Condo Collapse: President Biden To Visit Surfside Thursday

Engineers noted a large column hanging from the structure move anywhere from 6 to 12 inches and were concerned that it might fall and damage the support columns of the sub-terrain garage area, Cominsky said. There was also movement in the concrete floor slabs on the south side of the structure and in the debris pile adjacent to that side of it.

With the work of first responders coming to a halt at the site, the numbers remain the same Thursday, Levine Cava added. Six bodies were pulled from the rubble Wednesday — including a mother and her two children, a 4-year-old and a 10-year-old — bringing the number of confirmed dead to 18. There are still 145 people missing at the site.

Officials are also closely monitoring Tropical Storm Elsa. Gov. Ron DeSantis said the storm is expected “to quickly move through the Caribbean through the weekend and turn northwestern by South Florida by Monday.”

As the state meteorological team watches the storm, contingency plans are being made to continue search-and-rescue efforts and other work related to the building’s collapse in case tropical weather impacts the area, the governor said. This includes finding “alternative work facilities,” he said.

See Related Stories

• FL Condo Collapse: President Biden To Visit Surfside Thursday
• Surfside Building Collapse Draws People Together
• Friends Of Miami Animals Opens Hotline For Pets Missing From Surfside Condo That Collapsed
• Prominent Structural Engineer Allyn Kilsheimer Hired By City Of Surfside To Investigate Cause Of Condo Collapse
• Surfside Condo Collapse Is Third Largest Building Failure In Country's History
• Miami-Dade Mayor Assembling Team Of Experts To Enhance County's Building Safety
• 2 Chicago Men Among Those Missing In Florida Building Collapse
• Firefighters Working To Dig Through Condo Collapse Rubble In Need Of Food
• Surfside Condo Collapse 'Wall Of The Missing'
• Neighbors 4 Neighbors' Surfside Building Collapse Victim Fund Helping Those In Need
• Sextant Stays Offers Up Free Temporary Housing For Surfside Condo Collapse Victims