Death toll rises to 11 in Florida condo collapse
Two more bodies were found in the rubble of a partially collapsed 12-story residential building in Florida on Monday, bringing the confirmed death toll to 11.
The Champlain Towers South condominium building in Surfside collapsed last Thursday morning, and Monday was the fifth day of search and rescue operations. There are still 150 people unaccounted for, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a Monday press conference that the numbers are "very fluid and they will change." She promised there will be a "thorough and full investigation of what led to this tragic event. We are going to get to the bottom of what happened here. Right now, our top priority is search and rescue."
About 55 of the building's 136 units were destroyed in the collapse, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah said on Monday, adding that rescuers are digging through "rubbles of concrete the size of basketballs, the size of baseballs." Crews haven't been able to make it to the bottom of the pile yet, but Jadallah said cameras that were lowered in show that there are air pockets were people could be trapped. There are more than 80 rescuers working at a time, searching through humidity and rain, and an underground sonar system is also aiding in efforts to find victims.
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.
Champlain Towers South was built in the 1980s, and was undergoing roof work, Surfside officials said. A 2018 structural field survey found the waterproofing below the condo's pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing "major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas." Read more at ABC News.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
China’s single mothers are teaming upUnder the Radar To cope with money pressures and work commitments, single mums are sharing homes, bills and childcare
-
Employees are branching out rather than moving up with career minimalismThe explainer From career ladder to lily pad
-
‘It is their greed and the pollution from their products that hurt consumers’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
GOP wins tight House race in red Tennessee districtSpeed Read Republicans maintained their advantage in the House
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
-
White House says admiral ordered potential war crimeSpeed Read The Trump administration claims Navy Vice Adm. Frank ‘Mitch’ Bradley ordered a follow-up strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat, not Pete Hegseth
-
Honduras votes amid Trump push, pardon vowspeed read President Trump said he will pardon former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, who is serving 45 years for drug trafficking
-
Congress seeks answers in ‘kill everybody’ strike reportSpeed Read Lawmakers suggest the Trump administration’s follow-up boat strike may be a war crime
