A 12-story oceanfront condominium building partially collapsed overnight in Surfside, Fla. Rescuers have pulled survivors out as the search for victims continues — as do questions of what happened.
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Rescue crews worked through the early morning hours and all day today searching for survivors of a partial building collapse near Miami. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis toured the scene of the 12-story condominium in Surfside, and then he spoke to the media.
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RON DESANTIS: Right now we have the fire rescue. They are in search and rescue mode. They are trying to identify survivors. I know they have made contact with some. And they are doing everything they can to save lives.
CHANG: One person is confirmed dead, but Miami-Dade's police director says nearly 100 people are still unaccounted for. NPR's Greg Allen joins us now from Surfside. Hi, Greg.
GREG ALLEN, BYLINE: Hi.
CHANG: So what happened exactly?
ALLEN: Well, you know, we have this 12-story condominium building right on the beach, and it just inexplicably just collapsed around 1:30 a.m. Surveillance video captured the collapse, and people probably have seen it. What it shows horrifying. It happened when most people were asleep, and they had no warning. It's all part of the Champlain Towers condominium complex. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett says he was shocked by what he saw when he arrived on the scene.
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CHARLES BURKETT: We've got 134 units in that building, I understand, and literally half of that building is not there anymore.
ALLEN: This is a 40-year-old building, as I say, right on the beach. Officials say they believe that 55 of the apartment units in the building have collapsed.
CHANG: Wow. And how are search and rescue efforts going at this point?
ALLEN: Well, it's a very difficult situation. You know, the 12 floors in this one section just pancaked. Rescue crews are using dogs and going carefully through the rubble, and they're using high-tech listening devices looking for pockets where there may be survivors, but so far, not a lot of luck. Miami-Dade is known, though, for its experienced urban search and rescue team. It's a team that travels around the world, you know, responding to disasters like this one. Here they are in their backyard. Here's Dade County assistant fire rescue chief Ray Jadallah.
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RAY JADALLAH: The northeast corridor of the apartment had collapsed. Our units began search and rescue efforts. They pulled 35 occupants that were trapped inside the building.
CHANG: So after this collapse, I mean, were a lot of people able to get out on their own?
ALLEN: Right. The story is just amazing. Yeah, many residents were awakened by the rumbling, and then - and some were rushed to safety. Rescue crews said they did pull 35 people out of the structure and at least two so far from the rubble. Fifty-three-year-old Barry Cohen was one of those people who was rescued. He was on his balcony with emergency responders found him.
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BARRY COHEN: I was in a deep sleep. And I heard what I thought was a crash of lightning, like a crashing noise that didn't stop. And it just kept going and going and going for, I'd say, 20, 30 seconds.
ALLEN: Cohen and his wife rushed downstairs, but they couldn't get out to an emergency door. Then they went to the basement, which was flooding from broken pipes. They went to their apartment, and that's where the crews - rescue crews found them.
CHANG: So devastating. Greg, what do we know at this point about what may have caused a collapse on this scale?
ALLEN: Well, officials say that's - you know, it's too early to know, of course, but that will be the focus of an investigation by Miami-Dade County Police Department. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett talked about it today on NBC. He said there's work - there was work being done on the roof, but it's not clear if that was a factor.
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BURKETT: It's very difficult for us to imagine what could have happened. But obviously, the foundation somehow was undermined, and the whole thing came down. I mean, it looks like a bomb went off, but we're pretty sure a bomb didn't go off. So it's something else.
ALLEN: Right now officials are concentrating on the ongoing search and rescue mission and helping people who are left homeless. Red Cross is helping put people in hotels temporarily, and authorities have evacuated to adjacent buildings as a precautionary measure until they can get engineers in there to make sure they're safe.
CHANG: That is NPR's Greg Allen in Surfside, Fla. Thank you, Greg.
ALLEN: You're welcome.
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