As a structural engineer myself thank you for inviting someone who is an expert on the issue. Unfortunately most media have architects who simply don't now much about this (its not part of their job).

Structure engineer is never appreciated until time like this….

this was absolutely excellent, outstanding news coverage. well done, anchors!

I am guessing that the condo association board members are lawyering up and studying the paperwork to find a loophole to absolve themselves of all responsibility.

Nice to see some actual journalism being done, reporters and engineer were excellent..

Great job interviewing. Thank you for choosing an Engineer to interview to help educate others.

This is a great interview and both the interviewers and Structural Engineer Rick Slider provided us with detailed and important updated information about this unfortunate disaster.

This is starting to look like gross negligence, It seems they were properly warned of the situation and the remedy.

In my 36 years of engineering experience (chemical and mechanical, not civil/structural) this is the *first* incident where I have seen television news people ask intelligent questions of a well selected technical expert. This particular interview has been the best of them all, by a wide margin. I am respectfully astonished at the very high quality of this interview, and am glad to see it. Now, if only we could get more high quality reporting on the many technical issues which are so important to modern life, and where the voting public is called upon to make dscisions that affect our collective future...

The girl on the phone said the pool vanished, then the building started shaking, she screamed and the line went dead

The HOA has got a lot of explaining to do.

I agree it was foundational issue. A maintenance person said salt water was constantly in the garage sometimes 2 feet of water, enough to make cars float. He was told to use pumps. Pumps never could get all the water out. Then at times, water would disappear. He wondered where the water would go. He said this went on for years.

All Flags throughout the City need to be at half mast, for the lost souls in this tragedy...

If you live in a condo I would MOVE. You are going to see maintenance SKYROCKET and $5 to $10k assessments coming EVERY YEAR for years to come. Property values will fall through the floor as well. GET OUT NOW. State is going to MANDATE repairs, no more opting out of reserves.

I bet there were cracks that got filled in and painted over. They do that to buildings all over Flroida. Makes it easier to sell units.

Wondering how many HOA board members sold their units after reading that report in 2018.

These journalists are amazing, their questions, their statements are right on point and smart. These is the right way journalists should do their work.

I guess the CTS apartment tower has now failed its 40 year recertification. But in Florida's corrupt Dade-Miami county, that is no certainty.

That's why you need a government agency to make sure these repairs are being made on time and follow through step by step diligently. You can't let the HOA make all the decisions besides they aren't qualified to decide what's urgent vs what's life threatening.

Finally the honesty that's all we ask for

I know none of these people but my heart truly breaks for both deceased and survivors! I think if the horrible death of their beloved pets too! Bless the responders!!!!

My 40 year old condo in South Fla had all these issues and then some. They were addressed immediately by the Condo Board.The local building dept issued its report and reinspected on a regular basis. If the issues were not address there would be consequences and substantial fines.

Apparently when reporters cover non political issues actual reporting gets done. Well done. Rip to all the souls.

EXCELLENT INTERVIEW!!! RIGHT TO THE POINT QUESTIONS!!!! WELL DONE GUYS!!!!

What happens when the raised issues are not addressed such as this one? If association has not managed their funds or concerned of cost and as this one determined in 2018 a need ignored...what or who holds them to account? Time for clear accountability in future...real lives matter!

GREEDY REAL ESTATE FLIPPERS AND SPECULATORS DONT CARE ABOUT DISCLOSING STRUCTURAL ISSUES. MANY MORE APT BUILDINGS ARE AT CATASTROPHIC RISK..

Owners are refusing to pay to maintain their buildings. This is the result

This Engineer is is exceptional !!

I believe as long a building has a proper drainage system and waterproofing it can last a long time

Call in the National Guard --Damn help these people 😢😢

All these people moving to FloriDUH better do deep inspections of the homes they buy built on swamp land.

The roof was less expensive, the association and board of directors have a lot to do with it and they hide the issues from the owners. The associations should be regulated.

Excellent interview. Thank you for giving your viewers a very informative. show. There should be more news coverage like this.

The "Original Sin" of the construction industry is the widely known long term incompatibility between Ferrous Steel Rebar and Concrete. Exterior Exposed Concrete slowly absorbs moisture from rain and humidity and as the internal Ferrous Steel Rebar oxidizes (rusts) the rusting rebar expands and subsequently cracks the concrete , eventually causing a structural failure. This "spalling" phenomena is more pervasive in Florida because in Florida the concrete suppliers sourced local aggregate to mix into the concrete. Local Florida aggregate contains trace amounts of Sodium Chloride (salt) which greatly speeds up this whole "SPALLING" process. This is a huge problem as older buildings continue to an advanced age , IMHO , the only true fix for buildings or any concrete structure showing evidence of advanced spalling is (unfortunately) complete and total demolition of the structure. Modern construction techniques increasingly use GRAPHITE REBAR which does not react with salt or moisture. Concrete reinforced with GRAPHITE REBAR is also stronger and lighter than concrete reinforced with Steel Rebar All above is widely known and meant to share knowledge. Prayers to all affected by this tragic circumstance.

Great expert, clear concise explanations, great questions, great reporting, fair and democratic news information and analysis. Excellent segment and appreciate the premium news reporting.

Nice reporting and intelligent questions asked by the news crew. They did their homework.

Great questions and very illuminating answers. TY to all involved.

Let’s see inspections from 2010.this was a great an ease of terms to understand.great job

Either someone was working on the place or they weren't. Everything else is "never happened, move along."

The other part of the building seems to be tilted. I'm seriously concerned that the other section could fall as well.

Very pertinent questions and answers.

Logic vs. American dream : building on sand doesn't work

The report from 2018 WARNED of sprawling (a term I just learned) and they still ignored it! It is very plain that deferred maintenance is what caused this destruction. They either didn't have the money or someone was extremely derelict in their duties in this expensive Condo building. Instead of waterproofing they used epoxy? This could almost be a criminal case as well as civil! This was preventable!

Where there's one rat there's probably a dozen more you don't see.

How do a couple of cracks in concrete lead to a complete collapse?

I am very impressed by the female news anchor. I've never seen such an intelligent & articulate discussion from a news person.

What a rare bit of quality journalism... What TV station was it? Clear without being patronising and no whiny over narration or interruption.

I think that the residents in the remaining parts still standing should have to move out for their safety.

I lived in a condo. I HATE them. Most likely the Board didnt have the funds to do the repairs. There has to be special assessments. No one likes to pay them so they can get held up in votes. Id never ever live in one again.

Great question at 3 minutes in. I was wondering the same.

The question of limestone "bedrock" was not discussed here. Indeed, not much sense to build sky scraper by the beach.

Definite “gross negligence” AND “willful misconduct” ….

What about the Sister Building a couple of lots over ?? It was built the same year/time & by the Same Builder as the Champlain apartments !! Whats ( if anything ) is going to be done to Protect those People ?? Or will they suffer as well !!

Next they will bring in Phil Swift and ask him if _'Flex Seal Tape'_ could have saved this building.

Selling a dream $600K condos Their value and worth just crashed

I was reading a news story yesterday. A woman who is now missing, was talking to her husband on the phone with her husband seconds before the collapse. This is a paraphrase. She said she was watching the pool sink into the ground. from the layout of the satellite view, the pool looks to be about 20 to 30 feet away from the building. The ground underneath this part of Florida is calcium carbonate (aka Limestone). This is a sink hole that caused this collapse. The real horrifying reality is, how much of the ground under this stretch if beach is compromise. What authorities need to do immediately is go to all of the buildings withe that area and find out if there have been reports of cracking sounds, cracks on walls or any kind of anomaly in any of those buildings. This has to potential to and still be much worse.

This segment raises so many interesting issues. Consumers shopping for condo property now have to investigate HOA financials to determine if adequate funds are being reserved for critical preventative maintenance and replacement items.

These questions by the anchors could easily be saved and asked by a committee hearing in which the Condo Association would have to come up with answers.

Whoever owns this building is a negligent POS. RIP everyone

Rumor has it that the residents were made aware repairs would cost 80-100k each resident. That is an awful lot of money to try to convince them of the urgency.

When that lady visually saw the wall cracked across the wall in her room and she ran to the lobby and informed the clerk, why nobody setoff the fire alarm? She took her kids and ran four(4) blocks away, while the staff continue on trying to keep it all quiet so the building won't be finally condemned and staff be out-of-work with no income.

Ownership of this building was in too much debt with bankers to make them repairs in a timely manner. And the payments they were receiving from the residents went toward that debt. The banks want their money; and didn't care about the residents safety. The banks didn't want the property, because they probably knew it wasn't worth anything. And allowed the payments to continue until all end fails. Just my opinion " The roof was cheaper to repair; other then the structural damage of the building, that would have required all the residents to relocate. The repairs that was needed to that building was so overwhelming. The building was gonna collapse doing the structural repairs. That's why they didn't do the repairs. Doing the repairs was gonna collapse the building. It's greed... And who ever was contracted to do the repairs was gonna possibly die doing the repairs. The repairs was too dangerous to do... Damned if you do, damned if you don't do the repairs due to the debt. Too much water damage under the foundation of the building. It's like part of the building was held up by the section of the building that didn't collapse, but the part of the building that collapsed was on quick sand. One side of the building gave way of holding the other side up...

I think what people heard and saw are very important to finding out what happened

No steel girders?

Excellent report.

This was a good interview and some good questions were asked and answered by this guest who seems knowledgeable in this area. My question is were the people who were living in this building told about the existing situation and given the chance to move and get out before this event took place? When this 40 year inspection turned up some possibility that the structure could be in distress, were the tenants (condo owners) given notice that repairs were going to be done on this building and that some of the issues were of a serious nature therefore allowing the tenants time to get out if they didn't want to be living in a place, that in my opinion, should have been deemed "not safe" until the more serious issues were fixed. Were they kept in the dark? I am living in an apartment complex which is only 2 floors high so I know very well how things go ... the owners don't want to spend the money to fix a problem but rather use parts and fixtures from empty apartments when repairing. They are cheap and don't want to put out to replace things that have gone for years with not much upkeep. In my opinion ... this event was negligence pure and simple. They knew the severity of the problems and what could and would happen if not taken care of RIGHT AWAY but yet here we are ... SO MANY LIVES LOST ... WHY? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ OVER LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I remember seeing flipping houses about 10 years ago and they would always negotiate cheap costs for plumbing, roofing, seems this is the same

Can a building with that much deterioration even be repaired?

I worked in the repair of such buildings and at the bare minimum the columns in the basement level should have been reinforced until replacement could be done. By reinforcement, I mean each should have been wrapped in steel (angles at the corners and bars in between on each side) and tied together with cables and/or welded. The weight of the building would then be contained in each column and within the steel. And that is only a very temporary safeguard until real repair work could be accomplished. I see none of that in the videos of the basement/parking level in last year's video by prospective buyers, even though the report of 2018 clearly indicated issues with the columns as well as the pool deck slab. It's all very unconscionable.

Wow, reporters who actually read the report and know how to ask intelligent questions.

October 2018... OCTOBER 2018. What is wrong with this whole thing is that the way things are in our country, lives can be OBVIOUSLY jeopardized for the sake of money and those who know this building was in disrepair (engineers etc.) aren't really capable of DOING anything about it. SO IT GOES ON AND ON UNTIL THIS HAPPENS

Where is the condo/HOA association>? They need to start answering questions as to why this building was in disrepair.

so what your saying is it was decertified cracked ?

There were visible 3 factors that caused this and one invisible factor. #1 Engineers walked the building did not red tag it . #2 Steel on every balcony and the roof rusted and spalled. #3 overloaded roof that caused roof to pancake building It had roofing materials pallets weighing 1600 lbs each parapet walls, chiller , ac units, red iron beam. The invisible X factor is the roof was being redone, everyone knows roofers are slobs and do not clean up. If their plastic wrap and garbage clogged the roof drains , or if someone clogged them the roof would have filled with water from the previous days of heavy torrential rain. Once the building collapsed the water disappears and is not factored in as the cause .. The Cohen resident reported he was in the Garage to escape and it was filling with water . Now you hear others reporting water. It was a combination of a issues that lead to a pancake collapse from the roof giving way and possible overload of the support columns . The roof had tall parapet walls and the amount of water weight would overload the structure along with roofing materials ect

God bless all victims. Salt water is no joke highly corrosive. Be proactive get the best repair so the Bldg last longer. We can replace money but not lives. Engineers it's time to wake up, no more short cuts. I am not engineer but I have common sense.

Remember the inspectors and engineers and OSHA are the most to blame for the loss of life. The inspectors and engineers have said this building has huge problems but yet they never shut this building down. Remember the inspectors and engineers and OSHA get paid a ton of money every year too keep us safe they failed everyone in this building. The Engineer brought the red flag but he failed to save these people's lives by shutting the building down.

How about a new rule that based upon qualified inspection that the condo tower is no longer safe to live in and everyone is evacuated and the property is condemned until such time that qualified repairs are made??

If they don't already, the city - county should get a copy of the report and enforce the repairs in these serious situations

I'm sorry no excuse , who ever is liable for this disaster just will have to pay

I would think ocean front property would use different materials than normal buildings. I've seen in Galveston they build on piers. I don't think they use concrete and rebar. Maybe because the salt water would effect the rebar and structure

Why was the pool was not emptied & closed, source of water? Also, why is rebar made of steel, not stainless steel? Also, why wasn't building condemned by inspector? Can't rely on HOA for that.

The residents had failed to reach a consensus that would have enabled the remedial works to be carried out as per the structural engineer’s recommendation.

perhaps a sort of plastic rebar could be made for salt exposure areas. I see nothing attractive about massive high rise buildings.

But think of all the money the condo board saved the condo owners thru the years by not fixing the problem.

I’m sure if you ask any demolition team on how to collapse a building they would say go for the support beams

If you are on a condo board you sign a contract that stipulates that you are not responsible for anything that happens to the condo while you are on the board.

Allot of people are not aware of the corrosive properties of salt water. I'm sure that the building operators heard water in the basement and just thought water in the basement. not this is a very serious threat to the structural integrity of the building.

This engineer is the best so far being interviewed. Architects and professors are useful in other arenas but not here.

If the garage was filling up with water 10 minutes before the collapse I’m thinking the severely damaged structure below the pool collapsed causing the water to filter into the basement garage causing the weak structures to crack even further and bringing the whole structure down… a surviver did mention hearing cracking sounds and seeing one of her walls and ceiling cracked above her bar minutes before the collapse of the building

Here's a guess as to why repairs were delayed and done starting from the roof, rather than the basement (which was structurally more critical): PROFIT MOTIVE. BTW, who owns the building?

I hope they look into more buildings in the area that were built around the same time. Look into the builders, engineers and archetiects who built around that area. Although maintenence is imperative for a buildings longevity, design does play a role. The neglect on the part of the people who were in charge of the building is criminal. This is profit over people all over again. I would be devasted to lose a loved one in a situation like this. Even more so knowing that it could have been prevented if it were not for greed.

For reference, I40 Memphis bridge inspectors spotted cracked beam, called 911, immediately shut down the interstate for proper repair.

That building was in disrepair and in danger in 2018. You can bet that building needed repairing in 2010 but no one wanted to pay for it. Over 500 repair complaints.

So far channel 10 have had multiple engineers chime in, and they all say something different!!

The water gushing-in 7 mins before the building collapsed was sea water tunneling in at times up against and beneath the building...this why 4 years ago, the staff had to buy 3 water pumps in the garage beneath the building to pump out all the water, they have to buy a new water pump every year because the pump burns up, hence this went on for years---why any/all inspector's are keeping real, real quiet about this??? Because they don't snitch on each other. Therefore, you have a unconstitutional partial and bias inspector's in Florida not going to give all the true facts why this building collapsed with over 160 people inside with all of these building codes to prevent this from ever happening.

Why are steel reebars used inside of concrete when they rust causing expansion. I just don't get it.

The comments around minute 6:30 to minute seven indicate to me the high likelihood that someone is going to jail.

To avoid these exact issues are are new carbon fiberglass rebar being used in Europe

The owner of the building would've committed suicid if this happened in China out of shame or sentenced to a very very very long time in prison for cutting corners. 1M in repairs if repaired back in 2018, but now probably 1B paying off all the families.

Sounds like the repairs required were horrendously expensive. I wonder if they started with the roof because that was a more affordable way to start being in compliance. I dont know.