A consultant in 2018 urged the managers to repair cracked columns and crumbling concrete.
Posted on 06/24/2021 1:44:58 PM PDT by rxsid
FIU professor: Collapsed Surfside building showed signs of subsidence in ‘90s
The area where a building partially collapsed in Surfside, Fla. showed signs of land subsidence in the 1990s, according to space-based radar data analyzed by an FIU professor.
The 2020 study conducted by FIU Institute of Environment Professor Shimon Wdowinski identified the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium as the one place on the east side of the barrier island where land subsidence was detected from 1993 to 1999. But land subsidence in and of itself likely would not cause a building’s collapse, according to Wdowinski, an expert in space geodesy, natural hazards and sea level rise.
“When we measure subsidence or when we see movement of the buildings, it’s worth checking why it happens,” Wdowinski said. “We cannot say what is the reason for that from the satellite images but we can say there was movement here.”
Western Miami Beach saw subsidence over larger areas but that was expected because homes there are built on reclaimed wetland. Areas where land is subsiding are more likely to experience more serious effects of sea level rise, according to the study.
n the 1990s, Miami Beach experienced subsidence at the rate of 1-3 millimeters per year, which could add up to a few inches of movement over a decade, Wdowinski said. It was significantly slower compared to other parts of the planet Wdowinski has studied. Mexico City, for example, is subsiding at a rate of 15 inches per year.
The researcher believes the same technology he used to detect land subsidence could be used to detect vulnerable buildings and help prevent future catastrophes.
The study was published in the journal Ocean & Coastal Management."
Not to worry... BTW still occupied!!
In May 2016, residents were informed the main tower was both sinking and tilting.
-snip-
An examination in 2016 showed the building had sunk 16 inches (41 cm) with a two-inch (5.1 cm) tilt at the base and an approximate six-inch (15 cm) tilt at the top of the tower.
Millennium Tower (San Francisco)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Tower_(San_Francisco)
Best hymn in a movie you can only see/hear in the deleted scenes bonus material. “We Were Soldiers”
According to the USGS, The Navy explosion caused a 3.9 at 0.0 km depth and 170 km ENE of Ponce Inlet, Florida...which in turn is about 260 miles north of Surfside, Florida.
Interestingly, there have been several "Experimental" (i.e. "Navy") earthquakes in nearly that same spot in the ocean, 5 in 2016 of nearly the same magnitude.
” on bedrock”
Uh, this is Florida. Previously swamp land.
Orange ground bad.
Hank Johnson knows what it is. South Florida can’t hold up the weight from all those buildings.
The carbon they want to eliminate IS YOU
Into the coral rock/limestone, very deep.
In thinking cement made with either beach same e or mixed with sea water, or...sorry, the part of the building that fell was built upon fill.
It’s NOT a sink hole
One tenant sued the association twice because cracks in the exterior wall were allowing water into his unit. Just think how big those cracks must’ve been! I’m going to guess that if he was still living there at the time of this disaster, he probably lost his life, as the cracks were on his wall...the part of the building that collapsed =o|
The board most assuredly KNEW of the dangers. The engineers had to have told them going back to the observations of 2mm sinking each year back in the ‘90s
If the rate remains constant...
2mm/yr
One cm every five years
The “90’s” were 25 years ago
That’s 5cm sunk since first known
5cm is two inches.
If part of the building was unmoving and the other part sunk two inches? Oh yeah there’d be cracks all over the place..big enough to let rain in.
The pool was reported to be constantly leaking and in need of repair. By the way, this pool is not in ground. It is in the parking garage. The below water parts of the pool are walled inside the lower level, just like the hot tub. Watch the videos carefully to see this. The parking garage appears to be the critical first failure before the collapse and witness requests seem to confirm this. The building fell as though a demolition crew posted charges. It fell from inner lower structural failure. ALL symptoms of structure failure, EVEN the pool.
The pool was the obvious clue to problems with the entire structure. “Hey homer, why do you think the pool keeps crashing and making water into the parking garage?”
Now that I think of it, chlorine is caustic to steal. If leaked pool water settled in the parking garage, where micro cracks developed in the cement (especially the pilings) due to normal settling, that chlorine would eat away the exposed rebar in those cracks. The rebar would rust, swell and pop the cement exposing even more rebar.
Cement repair in condos is ONGOIING on beach front condos. It is a known issue. Unless you live here, you went know this. Entire buildings get their facades and balconies COMPLETELY redone every few years. It’s bad!
I’m leaning more and more toward concrete failure due to unchecked/unmitigated rebar corrosion swelling to split the concrete, beach sand mixture in cement, or ocean water in cement mix. Rebar corrosion is the most probable, but there is a chance the there may be fill under the building, which settlefb over the years and contributed.
The board absolutely knew of the dangers, as they continually repaired damage.
The building will be brought down eventually and there will be no board and no HOA revenue. The surviving families will receive no compensation, which is such a small thing in the light of losing loved ones, obviously.
If the board knew of the dangers, I hope they pay personally, even criminally if warranted
Not in 1981. China was still Third World then, wasn’t it?
I am sure the geology professors have nothing to do with the FBI. That, however, does not mean the FBI is not using their study to miss-lead the public and stifle the asking of questions. Land subsidence would not cause a building to suddenly pancake upon itself. Subsidence would have caused it to tilt and slowly sink with the surrounding area. If subsidence was the cause the whole neighborhood would be tilting, sinking and unworthy of occupation.
The way the building collapsed straight down suggests multiple failures of the support structure at the nearly exact, or exact, time. Believe what you want, but this was not a failure caused by land subsidence or construction flaws. Either the bedrock far below the structure collapsed into a deeper cavern, which seems unlikely because none of the surrounding structures dropped, or this was caused by terrorists.
You and I both know how little the truth matters to the media.
Who's stifling questions? I see plenty being made on this site alone. Is there an abnormal amount of stifling going on somewhere else?
Land subsidence would not cause a building to suddenly pancake upon itself. "
Agreed.
Which, by the way, is precisely what the professor said.
It's simply a piece to the puzzle.
This wouldn't be the first time in human history that land subsidence played part in such calamities. The degree to which it was a contributing factor has yet to be determined. Several factors are likely to have come together for this to happen. [1][2][3][4].
It was fairly clear after several hours of eye witness accounts && after the release of the video of the collapse, that this wasn't an intentional human caused explosion or terrorist act of some kind.
This was an unfortunate accident made possible by natural processes coupled with almost certain human error.
Just because an event like this is rare in this country, does not mean it's impossible. Eventually, odds catch up.
Florida condo disaster: A look at other major US building collapses in recent history
In 2015, a lawsuit alleged building management failed to maintain an outside wall, resulting in water damage and cracks. The owner who filed that suit had previously sued over the same issue, according to a court filing. The management company paid for damages in the earlier case, according to records.Cracked walls or shifting foundations can be clues that sinking has affected the stability of a structure, according to Matthys Levy, a consulting engineer, professor at Columbia University and author of “Why Buildings Fall Down: How Structures Fail.”
it was bad const. which miami is famous for in the early days or it was a bomb.
I was born in Miami in 46. By the 60’s it was going downhill fast.I got out in 1970 moved to the Keys.
Const. was always a nightmare,inferior const.inferior materials, bad help,paid off inspectors you name it and it happened in South Fla. By the 90’s Miami/Dade County was third world it still is. They think differently than we do although a lot of them are beginning to become americanized.
Every House in Miami and dade county has an addition on it and many have bars on the windows. Some were permitted most were not. It was so widespread the regulators just ignored it.
We now see the result.
Some sources I follow openly stated it was a bomb.
If it fell like the twin towers we already know what made them fall.I see concrete destablization all the time in S.Fla. Its seldom a fast free fall but usually a long term hard to ignore type of situation not like this at all.
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