Death toll climbs to five, 156 still missing at collapsed Florida building

SURFSIDE, Fla., (Reuters) - The death toll rose to five yesterday at the site of the Florida building collapse where rescue workers methodically searched for more than 150 missing residents while firefighters made progress in battling a smoldering fire in the mountain of debris.

Search-and-rescue teams found one victim at the site in Surfside, a shore town near Miami, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during an evening news briefing.

“Our top priority continues to be search and rescue and saving any lives that we can,” Levine Cava said.

The search effort has revealed some human remains while three other victims were identified and their family members notified, she said.

A newly released 2018 report showed that an engineer found evidence of major structural damage beneath the pool deck and “concrete deterioration” in the underground parking garage of the 12-story oceanfront condominium, three years before it collapsed without warning on Thursday as most residents slept.

Officials said they still harboured hope that some of the 156 people unaccounted for might be found alive. Firefighters made progress on smoldering fire and smoke beneath the rubble, allowing rescuers to search with fewer limitations, officials said.

Aided by dogs, infrared scanning and heavy equipment, rescuers hope that air pockets that may have formed in the debris might keep people alive.

“The biggest thing now is hope,” Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said. “That’s what’s driving us. It’s an extremely difficult situation.”

The engineer’s 2018 report, released by town officials, was produced for the condominium board in preparation for a major repair project set to get underway this year.

It was not immediately clear whether the damage described in the report was in any way connected with the building’s collapse around 1:30 a.m. ET (0530 GMT) on Thursday.

Cava said officials had not been aware of the report. Vice mayor Tina Paul called the structural issue described in the document “very alarming” in an email on Saturday morning.

Donna DiMaggio Berger, a lawyer who works with the condo association at Champlain Towers South, said the issues outlined in the 2018 engineering study were typical for older buildings in the area and did not alarm condo board members, all of whom lived there with their families.

“There’s no ‘hair on fire’ - nothing that says ‘you need to evacuate that building immediately,’” she said in phone interview with Reuters.