'This is not safe': Champlain Towers residents reportedly complained of 'disrepair' prior to collapse
At least four are dead and 159 others still missing after a condominium tower in Surfside, Florida partially collapsed Thursday morning, CNN reports. And although the cause of the disaster is still unknown, some Champlain Towers residents reportedly complained of issues of "structural integrity and serious disrepair" prior to the building's tragic collapse, per The New York Times.
In 2015, one Champlain Towers resident sued the condo association, claiming poor building maintenance had "allowed water to damage her unit after entering cracks through the outside wall," the Times writes. Other residents reported feeling "ground reverberations" during the demolition and construction of a new building nearby. A 2020 study also found the building had been sinking into the Earth "at an alarming rate" since the 1990s, USA Today reports.
"About a month ago I was standing on the balcony and saying, 'This is not safe,'" said Adriana Gonzalez Chi, sister of missing Champlain Towers resident Edgar Gonzalez. She said she warned her brother "numerous times" that the complex felt unsound, due in part to "frequent complaints about leaks and mold," writes the Times.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Gonzalez Chi said she told her niece, "If you feel the building tremble, run."
The building was preparing to undergo "extensive repairs for rusted steel and damaged concrete," said Kenneth S. Direktor, a lawyer for the resident-led association that operates the Champlain Towers South building. However, he claimed he'd seen "nothing to suggest" those issues had contributed to the collapse.
Read more at The New York Times.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
'Make legal immigration a more plausible option'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
LA-to-Las Vegas high-speed rail line breaks ground
Speed Read The railway will be ready as soon as 2028
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Israel's military intelligence chief resigns
Speed Read Maj. Gen. Aharon Haliva is the first leader to quit for failing to prevent the Hamas attack in October
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published