Collapsed Florida condo was sinking for decades,
researcher says
New York Post,
by
Tamar Lapin
Original Article
Posted By: ladydawgfan,
6/24/2021 7:17:56 PM
The Florida apartment building that partially collapsed on Thursday had been reportedly sinking for decades — and was undergoing a structural inspection, according to officials and a research study.
The 12-story beachfront condo in Miami-Dade County was built in 1981 — and had been sinking into the ground since the 1990s, according to a 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor at Florida International University.
“I looked at it this morning and said, ‘Oh my god.’ We did detect that,” Wdowinski told USA Today on Thursday.
Wdowinski’s research focused on which parts of Miami were sinking,
Reply 1 - Posted by:
BarryNo 6/24/2021 7:36:27 PM (No. 825543)
If that was the case, it should have toppled sideways as the ground gave out unevenly. Yes, the first third came down, then seconds later the rest collapsed straight down, pancaking. I want to see the calculations, the engineering studies that would have been on file for the area. It did not look like a natural collapse.
And right after Biden was threatening Americans with F-15s and nuclear weapons? Why, compared to that a collapsed building is almost friendly... Right?
8 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
DVC 6/24/2021 7:40:24 PM (No. 825547)
FTA:
"Surfside town officials on Thursday said the high-rise had been undergoing a county-mandated 40-year recertification process, which involves electrical and structural inspections."
Clearly, whatever "structural inspections" had been accomplished so far were woefully inadequate.
Built on swampland, sinking for ~30 years. Two millimeters a year from 90s is at least two inches of sinking if it was at that level continuously. Concrete beams are quite brittle, at some point they literally snap, shatter, actually.
9 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Lawsy0 6/24/2021 7:54:44 PM (No. 825564)
Payoffs? Kickbacks?
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
JL80863 6/24/2021 7:54:53 PM (No. 825565)
The collapse began at the top not at the base. I thought I saw a flash near the top floor just prior to the structural failure.
4 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 6/24/2021 8:13:41 PM (No. 825578)
A lot of buildings sink. Ever hear of the Leaning Tower of Pisa? That's like 600 years old, although unoccupied.
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
DVC 6/24/2021 8:26:26 PM (No. 825583)
The Leaning Tower would have collapsed long ago without massive foundation rebuilding and structural additions. Same root problem, though.....built on a swamp. Never a good idea.
7 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
downnout 6/24/2021 8:51:46 PM (No. 825591)
Leftists are probably looking for a way to blame this on Gov. DeSantis.
4 people like this.
While I am not an engineer, could it be the Chinese rebar was rusting away by the water, along with cheap concrete ?
6 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
ladydawgfan 6/24/2021 8:58:56 PM (No. 825597)
RE #'s 5 & 6:
The leaning tower is also, for all intents and purposes, completely hollow on the inside, reducing its weight significantly.
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Phantomll 6/24/2021 9:29:10 PM (No. 825610)
They'll blame it on global warming in 3, 2, 1...
5 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Jesuslover54 6/24/2021 9:33:01 PM (No. 825612)
Must have been the Israelis, but who gave the contract?
1 person likes this.
I suspected sinkhole on this one as soon as I heard about it.
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
DVC 6/24/2021 9:49:55 PM (No. 825628)
As far as Chinese rebar....I tend to doubt that it was in use in 1981, but perhaps it was. I have heard that Chinese steel is extremely prone to corrosion.
I do know that salt air near the beach causes serious corrosion on pretty much everything at beach homes. Whether or not this salt can work into the concrete and attack rebar, I don't know.
Significant rebar corrosion will crack and spall the concrete because the corrosion products are larger volume than the original metal, and that sort of spalling and rust staining is easily visible if the structure is actually inspected by a competent person.
This effect is commonly seen in the spalling and potholing of concrete highway bridge decks where road salt is used in the winter.
Whether this effect occurs from the small, but very real amount of salt in beach air on concrete buildings, I don't know. Does rain wash away the salt or does it help the salt soak in?
Regardless, this kind of rebar corrosion deterioration of reinforced concrete structures would be externally visible, if inspected.
I bet that we'll find out soon enough what caused this disaster.
3 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
ivehadit 6/24/2021 10:01:26 PM (No. 825643)
What on earth is this?
https://www.wagmtv.com/2021/06/21/huge-navy-blast-off-fla-atlantic-coast-registers-earthquake/
1 person likes this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
bad-hair 6/24/2021 10:04:06 PM (No. 825645)
Over night. If you're in the condos to the left or the condos to the right your property values just went to somewhere near ZERO..List em in NYC. I hear they're running for Florida.
5 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
nina584 6/24/2021 10:31:36 PM (No. 825668)
Because of the proximity to the water those buildings are on a system of pilings.The foundation of the building was defective and this the sinking. Buildings nearby are not sinking. As the sinking got worse the stress on the concrete slabs eventually damaged the structure and thus the collapse.
This idiot should have alerted the city.
5 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
DVC 6/24/2021 10:32:35 PM (No. 825669)
That Navy test was almost a week ago, about 400 miles away. I doubt it was significant in Miami.
3 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
red1066 6/24/2021 10:45:27 PM (No. 825681)
You have a building sinking at 2mm per year for about 25 years in sandy soil. Add in a leaking swimming pool which could have slowly washed away even more soil and sand, and suddenly your building starts to crack and fall apart.
6 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 6/24/2021 11:04:53 PM (No. 825691)
There does not appear to be very much steel (rebar) in that building. Also, those floors are a bit thin and lacking support. Regardless, no building self-implodes like the demolition crews did it unless the concrete is also totally compromised. I suspect some mafia linked construction company built this building.
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
Heraclitus 6/25/2021 12:01:35 AM (No. 825741)
Can hardly imagine the terror of being awakened in the middle of the night by the shaking and collapsing.
2 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
DVC 6/25/2021 12:20:46 AM (No. 825756)
I agree with the comment that there seems to be very few rebar protruding from the broken beams, but without knowing exactly where that beam went and what it was supposed to support, no way to be sure how many should be there. But I had that same impression.
2 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
AltaD 6/25/2021 9:28:40 AM (No. 826062)
FTA: However, the study focused on flooding hazards, not engineering concerns — and mention of the “12-story condominium” appeared in only one line, USA Today reported.
Even though it wasn't the focus of the study, when they learned the building was sinking, why didn't they alert the city or the condominium owners?
2 people like this.
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Comments:
I wondered if this wouldn't be a consideration as to the cause.