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Surfside collapse exposes an overlooked threat: Saltwater rising from underground
Surfside collapse exposes an overlooked threat: Saltwater rising from underground
Researchers are trying to sound the alarm about the danger rising seas could pose to coastal buildings.
Feb. 17, 2022, 4:35 AM EST / Updated Feb. 17, 2022, 6:50 AM EST
By Jon Schuppe
Not long after a condo tower collapsed in Surfside, Florida, last June, Randall Parkinson had what he calls an epiphany.
Parkinson, a coastal geologist who studies the impact of climate change at Florida International University in Miami, wondered whether rising sea levels had driven saltwater into the ground beneath the tower, corroding its concrete foundation. Others were asking similar questions, but he couldn’t find anyone who’d researched the effect of saltwater intrusion on residential buildings.
“So I decided to dig a little deeper,” Parkinson said.
More than seven months after the June 24 collapse, which left 98 people dead, there are no definitive answers about what caused the 40-year-old condo, Champlain Towers South, to fall. Parkinson is one of several scientists who believe that the tower may have been damaged by saltwater seeping into its underground foundation.
{snip}
Researchers are trying to sound the alarm about the danger rising seas could pose to coastal buildings.
Feb. 17, 2022, 4:35 AM EST / Updated Feb. 17, 2022, 6:50 AM EST
By Jon Schuppe
Not long after a condo tower collapsed in Surfside, Florida, last June, Randall Parkinson had what he calls an epiphany.
Parkinson, a coastal geologist who studies the impact of climate change at Florida International University in Miami, wondered whether rising sea levels had driven saltwater into the ground beneath the tower, corroding its concrete foundation. Others were asking similar questions, but he couldn’t find anyone who’d researched the effect of saltwater intrusion on residential buildings.
“So I decided to dig a little deeper,” Parkinson said.
More than seven months after the June 24 collapse, which left 98 people dead, there are no definitive answers about what caused the 40-year-old condo, Champlain Towers South, to fall. Parkinson is one of several scientists who believe that the tower may have been damaged by saltwater seeping into its underground foundation.
{snip}
