More than a week after a 12-story building collapse left at least 24 people dead and more than 100 still unaccounted for, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said the horrible tragedy has devastated the town while also bringing out the best in the community.
“It’s been a tale of two cities, where it’s created horror but it’s also brought out the most incredible amount of support and love and charity that you could ever believe,” Burkett told Fox News.
Search and rescue teams had to temporarily pause operations around 4 p.m. on Saturday while engineers assess the rubble and prepare for demolition of the part of the building that still stands, fearing it might not withstand the winds from Tropical Storm Elsa, should it make landfall near the site.
The review should take about 30 days, at which point officials will have a better idea of the state of the collapsed building’s sister tower.
“Buildings in the United States just do not fall down,” Burkett said. “That’s a third-world phenomenon. There was something very, very wrong with this building and we’re going to find out what it is.”
A nearby 156-unit condo in North Miami Beach was evacuated on Friday after it was deemed structurally and electrically unsafe.
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Part of the collapsed building that is still standing will be demolished in the coming days ahead of a tropical storm that is supposed to hit Florida on Tuesday.
“If the building is taken down, this will protect our search and rescue teams, because we don’t know when it could fall over,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said at a news conference. “And, of course, with these gusts, potentially that would create a really severe hazard.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.