Time is of the essence in the northern suburbs of Miami, as rescue workers continue to carefully, and regrettably slowly, work their way through the rubble that was once half a Champlain Towers South.
The building collapsed nearly one week ago, in the wee hours of Thursday morning as many residents were sleeping. Since that time, workers have pulled one living boy from the wreckage and 11 bodies. There are still 149 people missing, however, which is a terrifying number given the amount of time that has passed since the incident itself.
Now, all eyes are on the history of the building and its maintenance, and some of the information that has come to the surface is not very reassuring.
A correspondence from the board president of Champlain Towers South, part of which unexpectedly crashed to the ground last week in Surfside, Florida, describes the decay at the building since 2018 saying, “the observable damage such as in the garage has gotten significantly worse since the initial inspection.”
Board President Jean Wodnicki addressed the letter to neighbors April 9.
“The concrete deterioration is accelerating. The roof situation got much worse, so extensive roof repairs had to be incorporated,” says the letter, acquired by CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
Wodnicki further describes issues facing the building saying, “When you can visually see the concrete spalling (cracking), that means that the rebar holding it together is rusting and deteriorating beneath the surface.”
Further complicating the situation, a number of heavy weather systems have force rescue crew to pause on account of lightning.
