SURFSIDE, Fla. A fifth body was pulled from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside on Saturday afternoon and other human remains located, as the search and rescue operation entered its third day, dimming hopes that anyone would be found alive in the wreckage. By late afternoon, voluntary evacuations were also underway at two other buildings, Champlain Towers North and East .
Saturday was another sorrowful day, where no survivors were pulled from the rubble of the Surfside condo collapse and the official death count rose to five (with authorities identifying four of the deceased). Further, a report in 2018 warning about the building's structural problems came to the fore.
An engineering consultant warned of “major structural damage” at the lower level of the condo tower in Surfside three years before the building’s collapse this week. A 2018 report to the condo association by Morabito Consultants said “failed waterproofing” below the pool deck and entrance drive at Champlain Towers South had led to significant deterioration of the concrete. Replacing the .
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A fifth body was pulled from the rubble of the Champlain Towers South Condo in Surfside (in Florida’s Miami-Dade county) on Saturday afternoon and other human remains located, as the search and rescue operation entered its third day, dimming hopes that anyone would be found alive in the wreckage.
By late afternoon, voluntary evacuations were also underway at two other buildings, Champlain Towers North and East – the North of the same age and similar design to the South Condo, the crumbled building, which had been flagged as having “major structural damage” at least three years ago.
Search and rescue crews swept the mammoth pile of rubble with canines and sonar using a grid system to identify possible survivors.