LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
In Surfside, Fla., after the condo collapse, there are still scores of missing and only nine people confirmed dead. While the families wait in anguish, multiple probes are underway into why the building fell down. Now we have some exclusive new information. A resident tells NPR that despite what city officials claim, at least one official knew about a 2018 engineering report that raised alarms about the building s safety. NPR s Brian Mann investigated.
BRIAN MANN, BYLINE: The report was commissioned by the condominium s residents association in 2018 as part of an inspection process required for older buildings 40 years after their construction. The consultant study warned of major structural damage and identified serious design flaws in the building s original construction. Government officials here, including Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, said yesterday, they were unaware of the consultant s warning.
Reporter s Notebook: Eyewitness News coverage from Josh Einiger in the Miami-area building collapse
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Eyewitness News Josh Einiger is reporting from Florida at the site of the Miami-area building collapse where scores of people are missing.
About 160 people remained missing after an oceanside condominium building collapsed into a smoldering pile of rubble, and searchers using both big machines and their hands to comb through a twisted, shifting heap of concrete and metal feared the death toll of at least four could go much higher.
With scores of firefighters working overnight to reach any possible survivors both from under and atop the remains of the building, hopes rested on how quickly crews using dogs and microphones to sift through the wreckage could complete their grim, yet delicate task.
A new makeshift memorial for the 152 people that remain unaccounted for at the Champlain Towers South collapse is up on the corner of Byron Avenue and 93rd Street in Surfside. It started with just one bouquet of flowers. Then residents dropped off more flowers and hung up t-shirts with the names of those unaccounted for, along with their unit…
The office of Miami-Dade Levine Cava said in a statement that this is a private and deeply emotional moment for the families.
At a news briefing Sunday, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced the death toll had risen to nine. We were able to recover four additional bodies in the rubble as well as additional human remains, the mayor said.
DNA samples from family members are being gathered to help identify human remains found at the site. 152 people are still unaccounted for.
Stacie Dawn Fang, 54 years old, Antonio Lozano, 83 years old, Gladys Lozano, 79 years old, and Manuel LaFont, 54 years old.