SURFSIDE, Fla. (AP) — Nearly three years before an oceanfront building collapsed near Miami, an engineering firm estimated the building needed more than $9 million in major repairs. That is according to emails from the firm of Morabito Consultants that were released by the city of Surfside.
The release of the 2018 cost estimate followed the earlier publication of another document from the firm showing the ground-floor pool deck of the building was resting on a concrete slab that had “major structural damage” and needed to be extensively repaired.
That report also uncovered “abundant cracking and spalling” of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage. At least nine people were killed in the collapse and more than 150 people remain unaccounted for.
Authorities have identified four of the nine people confirmed to have died in the collapse.
The missing include three members of the Cuban-American Mora family, and attorney Linda March, whose penthouse apartment was exposed when the building sheared away.
Police said the dead include Stacie Dawn Fang, whose teenage son survived; Manuel LaFont, an engineer who worked to make highways safer; and Antonio and Gladys Lozano, who almost reached their 59th wedding anniversary.
Relatives are increasingly desperate for news and worried about the slow progress and dwindling hopes. No one has been pulled alive from the pile since Thursday, hours after the collapse.
Some family members were taken by bus Sunday to a location near the site. Relatives frustrated with the pace of rescue efforts demanded to visit the scene.