With investigations on into the cause of the collapse of the 12-story building in South Florida on Thursday that had left four dead and 159 unaccounted for, the New York Times has found a report by an engineer who, in 2018, warned that the building needed repairs.
Consultant engineer Frank Morabito had shaped plans for a repair project in October 2018, where he mentioned that repairs were needed to maintain the “structural integrity” of Champlain Towers South and its 136 units.
"Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” the New York Times quoted Morabito as writing about damage near the base of the 40-year-old building.
Morabito did not say that the building would be at risk of falling. It is believed that years of exposure to the corrosive salt air along the South Florida coast may have contributed to the damage to the building.
Morabito’s report shaped plans for a multimillion-dollar repair project that was set to begin more than two and a half years after its release. Kenneth S. Direktor, a lawyer representing the buildings resident association, said the repairs were just about to get underway.
The report had noted that a pool deck at the ground level of the complex had poor waterproofing below it, causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas.
The building’s progressive collapse on Thursday left 55 out of its 136 units destroyed. The mayor of Surfside, South Florida had said that how it happened was a serious concern. "Buildings in America just do not fall down like this. This is a Third World phenomenon and we need to absolutely find out what's going on and we plan to. But right now it's all search and rescue,” NPR quoed him as saying.