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In reply to the discussion: Engineer Warned of 'Major Structural Damage' at Florida Condo Complex [View all]BlueWavePsych
(2,635 posts)16. WaPo: Before condo collapse, rising seas have long pressured Miami coastal properties
The 12-story condo tower that crashed down early Thursday near Miami Beach was built on reclaimed wetlands and is perched on a barrier island facing an ocean that has risen about a foot in the past century due to climate change.
Underneath its foundation, as with Miami Beach, is sand and organic fill over a plateau of porous limestone brought in from the bay after the mangroves were deforested. The fill sinks naturally and the subsidence worsens as the water table rises.
Investigators are just beginning to try to unravel what caused the Champlain Towers South to collapse into a heap of rubble and leave 99 people missing. Experts on sea level rise and climate change caution that it is too soon to speculate if rising seas helped destabilize the oceanfront condo. The 40-year-old building was relatively new compared with others on its stretch of beach in the town of Surfside.
But its already clear that South Florida has been on the front lines of sea level rise and that the impacts of climate change on the infrastructure of the region from septic systems to aquifers to shoreline erosion will be a management problem for years to come.
Underneath its foundation, as with Miami Beach, is sand and organic fill over a plateau of porous limestone brought in from the bay after the mangroves were deforested. The fill sinks naturally and the subsidence worsens as the water table rises.
Investigators are just beginning to try to unravel what caused the Champlain Towers South to collapse into a heap of rubble and leave 99 people missing. Experts on sea level rise and climate change caution that it is too soon to speculate if rising seas helped destabilize the oceanfront condo. The 40-year-old building was relatively new compared with others on its stretch of beach in the town of Surfside.
But its already clear that South Florida has been on the front lines of sea level rise and that the impacts of climate change on the infrastructure of the region from septic systems to aquifers to shoreline erosion will be a management problem for years to come.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2021/06/25/rising-sea-levels-condo-collapse/
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Engineer Warned of 'Major Structural Damage' at Florida Condo Complex [View all]
Jetheels
Jun 2021
OP
If this is a representation of how bad it was, the building should have been condemned and
Vinca
Jun 2021
#8
Yeah, if it wasn't for liberals and their need for regulations, we would all be free.
3Hotdogs
Jun 2021
#20
Against who? The inspecting engineer for not focusing on the severity of the problem but calling it
3Hotdogs
Jun 2021
#21
No, the engineer seems like a good guy, but your statement does 180 on headline.
Bernardo de La Paz
Jun 2021
#24
Residents probably didn't want to pay for the needed "multi-million dollar" concrete repairs till it
sop
Jun 2021
#3
Of course. Business conducted at every meeting is recorded, usually by Association officers.
sop
Jun 2021
#19
The repairs were finally mandated by the county's 40-year re-certification program.
sop
Jun 2021
#30
Could increasing assault of king tides and sea level rise contributed to Miami condo collapse?
BlueWavePsych
Jun 2021
#11
I lived in a 30-year old, 12-story condo that a problem with the concrete balconies
NCjack
Jun 2021
#12
WaPo: Before condo collapse, rising seas have long pressured Miami coastal properties
BlueWavePsych
Jun 2021
#16
Yes to all of the story text pasted above. But do we all recognize that the cartoon is
TeamProg
Jun 2021
#47
So what will be done about the tens of thousands of other ocean front buildings
3Hotdogs
Jun 2021
#23
No, according to the link, they were "this close" to starting repairs on structural issues.
JustABozoOnThisBus
Jun 2021
#31
I read somewhere that the building was considered more "middle-class" than the others.
NH Ethylene
Jun 2021
#46
Remember the legal term "inherent vice and latent defects." It will come up often in this collapse.
sop
Jun 2021
#68
"caused by years of exposure to the corrosive salt air along the South Florida coast"
BlueWavePsych
Jun 2021
#35
not underground.. parking is ground level under the raised building...
getagrip_already
Jun 2021
#38