Collapsed Miami condo had been sinking into Earth as early as the 1990s, researchers say

[ffr]

A Florida high rise that collapsed Wednesday night was determined to be unstable a year ago, according to a researcher at Florida International University.

The building, which was constructed in 1981 on reclaimed wetlands, has been sinking at an alarming rate since the 1990s, according to a 2020 study conducted by Shimon Wdowinski, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University.

When he heard the news that a condo had collapsed, he immediately knew which building it was, Wdowinski said.

“I looked at it this morning and said ‘Oh my god.’ We did detect that,” he said.
-snip-

The building was sinking at a rate of about 2 millimeters a year in the 1990s, and the sinking could have slowed or accelerated in the time since. - USA Today

[demtenjeep]

1. yet deathsantis was so worried about being the "thought police"

and not worrying about things like this

[lagomorph777]

2. Lawsuits will use this info.

[PoliticAverse]

3. "was constructed in 1981 on reclaimed wetlands" n/t

[ToxMarz]

30. All of Miami Beach and that entire island peninsula are reclaimed wetlands.

[PoliticAverse]

31. And eventually the wetlands will re-reclaim it. n/t

[ToxMarz]

35. Eventually a lot of things will happen

You heard it here first.

[SheltieLover]

4. K&R!

[Wicked Blue]

5. I hope sea level rise is going to be taken more seriously now

It makes me furious to read about building construction in highly vulnerable areas.

[Runningdawg]

6. Since I can't read the full article, I went looking for a 2nd source and couldn't find one. Anybody?

[herding cats]

37. Here you go!

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/collapsed-miami-condo-sinking-earth-181026431.html

[Eugene]

49. The professor is now quoted by several media outlets.

Researcher: High-rise that collapsed was sinking, due for recertification

“I looked at this morning and said ‘Oh my God.’ We did detect that,” Shimon Wdowinski, professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University, told the newspaper.

FIU professor: Collapsed Surfside building showed signs of subsidence in ‘90s (Florida International University)

Collapsed Florida condo building had been shifting since 1990s, geologist says (WFLA-TV)

[ace3csusm]

7. Thanks for article i was think something along those lines...

I figured a sink hole but sinking at that rate on makes sense...Although i really dislike DeSanti cant blame him who ever owns build is about to get sent to cleaners looks like they knew according to article...

[Demovictory9]

9. building is condos... individual owners, not any one owner

[soldierant]

28. There are some counties in FLorida which

are know to be prone to sinkholes. It has been fifteen years since I worked with homeowners insurance in Florida, but IIRC Hillsborough was one, and Miami-Dade was not. But, as many are pointing out, these things change, and rapacious development promores this kind of change.

[NCjack]

8. Who knew, and when did they know it? (De Santos, did you know?)

[hamsterjill]

33. Exactly.

This is going to be very costly for the people who didn’t act once they knew it was a danger.

So very, very sad. Always dollar bills above human beings.

[Hekate]

10. "Reclaimed wetlands"? More like destroyed; from the first, my money was on that as a cause...

I am truly sorry for the people who live there, but for 20+ years I’ve looked at Florida as a very temporary state, so to speak, due to their rapacious development practices. Add climate change and the rising sea — there are already beach towns in South Florida that are ankle deep in salt water at high tide.

[ffr]

13. And being that the property was on reclaimed wetlands

That would mean that, like New Orleans and California's Central Valley, as the water is drained or unable to replenish the water table, the land compacts and sinks.

Yet another reason to restore the wetlands.

Can you imagine what condo owners all around that area, but especially within view of this building are thinking right now?

[ace3csusm]

17. For Sale signs going up today...

But who would buy...

[Hekate]

18. The CentralValley's a different case. IIUC it was dry before irrigation turned it into the nation's

….fruit salad bowl. There’s dams and reservoirs, but last time we had a long drought the aquifers got a beating, and farm workers/poor people generally had to buy bottled water. That was when land subsidence (ie sinkholes) started to become an issue. Now, of course, the drought is permanent.

[hunter]

38. No, it was 13,670-square-miles of wetland.

For centuries, the Tachi tribe or Tache, a Yokuts people, built reed boats and fished in this lake in their homeland, until after the arrival of Spanish and American colonists. The Yokuts had once numbered about 70,000. They had one of the highest regional population densities in precontact North America, which was possible because of the rich habitat.

The Yokuts also hunted deer, elk, and antelope, which were numerous along the lake's shoreline. During wet years, the lake was the terminus of the Western Hemisphere's southernmost Chinook salmon run via the San Joaquin River.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulare_Lake

It was drained and "reclaimed" and is turning into a salty desert.

This has happened to other civilizations throughout human history.

[Hekate]

39. Wow. Thank you for being more deeply informed than I & sharing. nt

[Traildogbob]

23. Guessing the wetlands

Are doing some reclaiming now.

[MontanaMama]

25. You beat me to it.

I was shocked to read that this building might have been built on "reclaimed wetlands". Destroying wetlands ensures that the wetlands will eventually reclaim whatever short sighted humans build. Count on it.

[Traildogbob]

40. 🤜🤛

[smb]

11. Those Clicking Noises You Hear...

...are the clenching sphincters of local residents, property owners, and insurance underwriters.

[ace3csusm]

15. Insurances rates are going to go thru the roof

or worst major companies wont insurance their...So government will have to provide an insurance exchange policy's but since Florida is against government handouts no one will get them right...

[Skittles]

50. yup

who would want to buy anything not just there, but on any coastline in Florida now

so much for "paradise"

[Demovictory9]

12. Surfside building that collapsed was going through recertification process

[marble falls]

14. DiSantis thought it was a Jewish Space Wrecking Ball. Or an Italian one. One of the two.

[BlueStater]

16. They knew about this yet didn't do anything?

What the fuck?

[hatrack]

19. Forget it, Jake. It's Floriduh.

.

[Wingus Dingus]

21. I wonder if it's because the building didn't show any obvious

signs of structural stress or problems, despite a faster rate of sinking than other places. They were doing their 40-year certification inspection process when it failed. Maybe they would have caught something, or maybe not.

[malaise]

20. Just heard him on Local 10

So why did he not report it?

[Grokenstein]

22. Jeez...just think about San Francisco's Millennium Tower.

It's sunk eighteen inches and tilted fourteen inches since 2008.

https://www.sfgate.com/news/editorspicks/article/SF-s-sinking-Millenium-Tower-to-finally-get-fixed-15439863.php

Residents reported hearing various "creaking sounds," and then a "popping sound" at around 2:30 a.m. on the morning of Sept. 8, 2018. The following day, a resident living in a corner unit on the 36th floor found a cracked window across glass that was rated to withstand hurricane-force winds. Concerns that the creaking, popping and cracking were another symptom of the structural failure grew. A report conducted on behalf of the tower’s managers, blamed the crack on an “exterior impact,” but gave no indication as to what might have struck the window.

Oh, it gets worse. A hundred-million-dollar project might shore up the tower, but the entire region is sinking.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/environment/article/San-Francisco-Bay-Area-sinking-under-its-own-15961703.php

The entire Bay Area is plunging downward under the weight of its own sprawl. And that’s a concern as sea levels rise and cities try to figure out how they’ll stay above water in the coming decades.

Tom Parsons, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey, documented the problem recently. He calculated the weight of every building in the Bay Area and found the total to be so great, about 3.5 trillion pounds or the equivalent of more than 7 million Boeing 747s, that it’s pushing the Earth’s surface down. His research shows the region has sunk as much as 3.1 inches, on average, as a result of a century’s worth of development.

[Wingus Dingus]

24. I remember that story. Makes a couple millimeters a year sound like small potatoes.

I guess there's a lot more to it than just the fact that it was sinking, of course.

[Scruffy1]

26. 2 millimeters per year over 40 years is approximately 3.1 inches. n/t

[Politicub]

29. I would never be comfortable living in a high rise in San Francisco

I would move to the city in a heartbeat if I could afford it, but I wouldn’t want to live in a building that more than a couple of stories.

[Mr.Bill]

36. It depends on when the building was built.

The earthquake building standards in modern times make some of those buildings the safest place to be in an earthquake.

[superpatriotman]

41. Until it's not

I’d rather be in a single family home.

[Mr.Bill]

42. Well, in San Francisco

that will cost several million dollars.

Statistically, I think fire is a bigger risk in that city. Lots of old wooden buildings turned into apartments.

[Politicub]

44. Those are important, rational factors. My anxiety would cause me to stay on

edge, though. If I try to think myself out of a panic attack, anxiety will pop up and say, “Hold my beer.”

[Mr.Bill]

45. I understand totally.

I've never lived in San Francisco, but I've lived near it for 60 years. I was ten miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which was 60 miles or so from SF. I've visited the city dozens of times, sometimes for several days, and earthquakes are on my mind the whole time I am there. I wouldn't live there either.

But the fact is, when there is an earthquake the news shows the same damaged buildings over and over, ignoring the 99% of buildings with no damage.

[Politicub]

46. My husband is from the Bay Area, and we lived in Mountain View for many years.

Then relocated to LA for a period of time.

Would love to move back, but it would be so difficult to start again with the home values being what they are.

Earthquakes were never something that I worried about, but the segment on 60 Minutes about the Millennium building sinking got stuck in my head. The accounts of people hearing creaking at night... nope.

[Wounded Bear]

27. Pretty much the entire Florida peninsula is "reclaimed wetlands"...

[Beacool]

32. This explains a lot.

Poor people, may they rest in peace.

[hunter]

34. Apparently stuff in China is built to a higher standard.

When the foundations of their buildings fail the buildings themselves don't crumble.



https://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5956672

[I_UndergroundPanther]

43. We need the infrastructure bill passed,asap.

[Demovictory9]

47. checking Zillow... units have been selling ... was this info disclosed during Escrow?

that the building was sinking?

[Sgent]

48. Is anyone even liable for this?

I guess you could go after the condo association, but that means your essentially suing yourself. I can't imagine builders are still liable all these decades later. If the condo board members have good umbrella policies you might get a few million, but essentially everyone lost their lives, their homes, or both probably with no insurance.

How sad.