Miami building collapse - updates: Death toll reaches 12 as extra rescue team requested amid tropical forecast

City offers residents in sister buildings opportunity to relocate

Concern was raised following the collapse of the Champlain Towers South structure about other buildings that were built around the same time with the same builder.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said that residents living in two “sister buildings” were given the option to relocate amid the concern.

But preliminary investigations of those buildings “didn’t find anything that was out of order,” he added.

“So that’s reassuring, but that is not a deep dive,” Mr Burkett said during the Sunday press conference. “We are going to do a very deep dive into why this building fell down. And I imagine that is going to end up being a very sort of comprehensive project.”

These buildings were made with the same builder around the same time as Champlain Towers South with likely similar materials, he said.

Families of the missing people will be allowed to visit the site, mayor says

The families of the estimated 150 missing people from the Miami building collapse have been kept away from the site as search and rescue workers attempt to locate more survivors.

But Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade County said officials would now allow these family members to visit the site.

“We are working with the families and there will be an opportunity for visitation. It will be a very private event,” she said on Sunday.

This announcement comes after it was revealed that the death toll rose to nine people overnight.

Miami building collapse remains a search and rescue operation, officials said.

Officials confirmed on Sunday that search and rescue teams were still operating to locate any survivors from the Champlain Towers South collapse.

This will be the fourth day of searching for any survivors, as the death toll rises to nine confirmed dead and more than 150 people are unaccounted for in the rubble.

Officials were asked if they had a timeframe of when the search teams might transition to recovery, as workers enter the fourth day of searching for any survivors.

“We’ll continue moving through and doing what we’re doing,” said Miami-Dade Fire Chief Alan Cominsky, adding that he had “hope” that search and rescue could continue.

Army Corps of Engineers are on the site

The FEMA administrator said on Sunday that the federal government has deployed the Army Corps of Engineers to the site of the Miami building collapse.

“We are committed to working with the incident commander, the mayor, the governor, and the state team to bring in any additional resources that might be needed throughout this event,”said Deanne Criswell, the FEMA administrator, during a news conference.

FEMA has also begun to register any families who need assistance amid the building collapse.

Family is hopeful after finding grandma’s mementos amid rubble

The family of a grandmother who is among the more than 150 people unaccounted for in the Miami building collapse have found some hope after finding personal mementos among the rubble.

Mike Noriega, 36, said that he found a photograph of his missing grandmother, Hilda Noriega, 92, in the debris.

He and his father went to the Champlain Towers South residential building after hearing the news of its collapse overnight on Thursday.

Besides finding a photograph, there was also a birthday card that the grandmother received from her prayer group two weeks earlier.

Mr Noriega said that finding the mementos gave the family hope that they might find the grandmother as search and rescue teams work to locate any survivors.

“There was a message in the mess of all this,” Mr Noriega said. “It means not to give up hope. To have faith.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report

City of Miami Beach declares state of emergency

The city of Miami Beach has declared a state of emergency in the wake of the Champlain Towers South building collapse.

This declaration was made given the building is “steps away from the city’s northernmost border with the neighboring town of Surfside,” according to a press release sent Sunday.

The declaration will ensure that the city receives reimbursement for the emergency response efforts taking place in Miami Beach associated with the collapse, the release said.

Already President Joe Biden, Governor Ron DeSantis, and Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava have issued emergency declarations following the building’s sudden collapse on Thursday.

Billionaire donates $250k to help Miami building collapse victims

Orlando Bravo, a Puerto Rican billionaire and co-founder of the private equity firm Thoma Brave, has donated $250,000 on Sunday to the victims in the Miami building collapse.

His donation went to Support Surfside, which was created as a relief fund for the families and loved ones impacted by the disaster. This was the largest donation the fund has received to date.

“If you have something that’s very personal to you that hits family, friends, communities, if you don’t do something about it, nobody’s going to do anything about it,” Mr Bravo said.

The fund will work to help families with relocation assistance until insurance money and federal aid kicks in.

People wishing to donate to the fund can do so here.

Residents of the collapsed building were told their building was safe, despite engineer’s warning

One month after an engineer warned the Champlain Towers South building of significant structural damage, residents were told that the residential condominium was in good shape, NPR reports.

The publication obtained minutes from a November 2018 meeting between residents and a Surfside town inspector.

During the meeting, the inspector assured the residents that the building was “in very good shape,” according to the report.

But that statement contradicted a report released to the building on 8 October, 2018 that detailed extensive structural problems.

In the report, the consultant noticed damage to a concrete slab below the pool deck, as well as “cracking and spalling” located in the parking garage.

“The failed waterproofing is causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas. Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,” wrote consultant Frank Morabito with Morabito Consultants.

The report set in place a multimillion-dollar repair project for the building, which was set to start soon – nearly three years after the report was first released.

But then the building collapsed in the middle of the night on Thursday.

The Surfside inspector who made the statement to residents was identified by NPR as Ross Prieto.

“Structural engineer report was reviewed by Mr Prieto,” the meeting minutes say, NPR reports. “It appears the building is in very good shape.”

Mr Prieto is no longer employed by Surfside, according to the city.

NPR first looked into this November meeting after a resident of the building recalled the discussion.

Family members of those missing in Miami building collapse are bussed to site

Officials have started to take family members of the missing or dead individuals to a private spot on the site of the Miami building collapse, according to the Miami-County Dade’s mayor’s office.

Busses were being loaded with individuals so they could view the site.

“It is a private and deeply emotional moment for the families,” according to the mayor’s office.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava revealed earlier on Sunday that it was her office’s intention to get family members to the site at their request.

This came while search and rescue workers were working around the clock to try to locate anyone who may have survived the building collapse.

The death toll grew overnight on Saturday to nine confirmed deaths and more than 150 people unaccounted for, officials said.

Pregnant British mother, her husband and their one-year-old daughter among missing

A pregnant British mother and her family are among 99 people missing after a 12-storey oceanfront apartment block collapsed north of Miami.

Bhavna Patel, 38, a duel British and US citizen, is missing along with her 41-year-old husband Vishal and their one-year-old daughter Aishani, a friend has said.

“They were angels,” Vishal Abash told Sky News, “and now maybe God has come to reclaim his angels”.

Full report here: