Meanwhile, in Florida.

[Anoat]

I mean anyone who was on the lower floors is totally RIP, maybe people who were higher could ride the wave of debris down and not be buried in as much stuff but the clock is ticking on finding survivors.

[Jaybar]

Concrete is heavy and full of steel rebar, anyone not on the rooftop is dead or in very critical condition and need to be found asap.

[archibaldcrane]

Collapsed in 30 seconds in the middle of the night, there's gotta be at least dozens dead. 54 condos affected.

[Xno Kappa]

Damn that’s a terrible fucking way to go.

[Outlaw]

I have been watching the news coverage of this today. As of right now things are not looking good.

[6souls]

Updated to 99 missing.

Four dead and 159 missing.

Just read the people were paying upwards of $600k-$700k to live in this complex.

[Zealot]

That's an expensive coffin.

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[Nitsuki]

Given the area, not surprised. That island is extremely expensive, further north even more, one of which Lionel Messi actually owns an apartment in.

[Anoat]

It’s Miami, an old refrigerator box would probably be $2k a month.

[archibaldcrane]

Rent was pretty cheap when I lived there 18 years ago, but I lived in little Havana, not on the beach.

[Roranora]

any survivors rescued at this point have been chilling, crushed, for 36 hours

it seems about time to pivot to a recovery mission

[6souls]

Collapsed in 30 seconds in the middle of the night

https://twitter.com/BBCWorld/status/1408500758778191882

[Lucavi]

Oh damn, its bigger than I thought it was. Good grief, what a mess, and it had been sinking since the 90's?

Given how much it cost to live here, I'd imagine changes will come. Politicians always respond to the loss of wealthy people.

[Jaybar]

Oh damn, its bigger than I thought it was. Good grief, what a mess, and it had been sinking since the 90's?

Given how much it cost to live here, I'd imagine changes will come. Politicians always respond to the loss of wealthy people.

Literally someone got crushed by a falling window from a skyscraper for Chicago to enact wide-sweeping facade inspections, especially as other deaths from falling stone had occurred in the years prior (like 1 or 2, but still kinda nuts).

But your hyperbolic statement that only the wealthy make it to the eyes of government is a bit eye-rolling.

I just can't fathom which engineering firm signed off on allowing this building to remain, or which government entity ignored the soils and structural reports of an imminent collapse. I imagine some hefty lawsuits incoming if there remains any paper trails.

[archibaldcrane]

My best bet would be on the condo board knowing the issues with the building but the condo owners refusing to pay to fix anything for years.

[Jaybar]

My best bet would be on the condo board knowing the issues with the building but the condo owners refusing to pay to fix anything for years.

Absolutely unheard of!!! /s

I sat in on a board meeting for a high-rise property we were actively involved with addressing systemic water leakage. They were blown away that other buildings face very similar issues. But for 15 minutes a bunch of owners were belittling me and shitting on my inspections/reports/recommendations until both the contractor and property management were like "he's right, you nitwits."

[NynJa]

A lot could happen there. Condo fees are supposed to be pooled up to pay for these kind of repairs if it comes up. If the reserve fund never got off the ground, then the condo board was either a-pocketing condo fees b-not charging enough in condo fees. I'm leaning towards a, and thats gonna be a huge lawsuit for the condo board.

I'd assume a patch job of that magnitude would be expensive, but didnt someone say these were 600-700k condos?? Thats not pocket change. I dont think someone living in a 600k++ USD condo is gonna be negligent towards their property.

[arus2001]

You underestimate how willfully negligent landlords or similar equivalents can be.

[Jaybar]

I'm hedging my bets that there was a negligent engineer's report along the lines of "its already settled, everything will be fine. Definitely don't need to do any monitoring."

[Roranora]

if footings were critically compromised it's certainly not an easy fix and may not even be feasible. as delicious as the idea of owner negligence is, this might just be a situation where this building (this area?) and these people were simply fucked

it's a difficult and costly ask to know when and where a collapse might be imminent, and i'm doubtful there's a smoking gun in soils reports or structural recommendations