Newsman: The death toll rose in Miami Dade county ‘Champlain Towers’ collapse. At least four people are dead now and 159 others are unaccounted for after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in southern Florida‘s Miami-Dade County early Thursday, officials said. One of the four victims has been identified by family as Stacie Fang, the mother of Jonah Handler, a high schooler who was captured getting rescued from the rubble by firefighters Thursday.
A Miami-Dade county official told News media that there’s real concern about the structural integrity of the remaining building, particularly from dangling wires and portions of concrete. Fires have flared up throughout the day, adding to the danger for the search and rescue teams, according to the official. “It’s not necessarily human sounds,” Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Jadallah said during a press conference in Surfside on Friday morning. “It could be various things. It could be just steel twisting, it could be debris raining down.”
“We have hope,” he added, “and every time that we hear a sound, we concentrate on that area.”
Fire Chief Andy Alvarez of the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department said there are more than 3000 rescue personnel on the scene in Surfside working to save as many people as possible following the condo collapse Thursday. Rescue personnel cutting through the layers of debris with various machinery and using sonar devices as well as specially trained dogs. First responders have not heard any voices coming from the pile but have continuously picked up sounds, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah. It’s a risk that they are willing to take if it means finding people alive, Jadallah said.
“It’s the risk versus benefit,” he told reporters Friday. “Every time we have that belief, that there’s hope, you know, with personnel that are trapped, we do risk our lives.”
“[B]esides what Miami-Dade Fire Rescue brings to the table of having over 72 fire stations, over 2,500 sworn personnel, that are working 24/7,” Fire Chief Andy Alvarez told CNN.
When asked what message he has for families still waiting to learn about their loved ones who are unaccounted for, he said, “have hope.”
“There’s always hope,” he said.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told ABC News’ Cecelia Vega in an interview Friday on “Good Morning America.”
“Tragically, I woke up to learn that three bodies had been pulled from the rubble last night. Devastating news for families waiting for any hope of survival,” “Those three people have not been identified at this time,” she noted. “It does bring our count to four of those who have lost their lives in this tragedy.”
Levine Cava said there are trained experts, including structural engineers, on site to help keep rescuers safe while they search for survivors but that there is still “extreme risk.”
“Debris is falling on them as they do their work,” she told reporters Friday. “But they are proceeding because they are so motivated and they are taking extraordinary risk on the scene every day.”
“There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie,” the family said in a statement. “The members of the Fang and Handler family would like to express our deepest appreciation for the outpouring of sympathy, compassion and support we have received. The many heartfelt words of encouragement and love have served as a much needed source of strength during this devastating time. On behalf of Stacie’s son, Jonah, we ask you now to please respect our privacy to grieve and to try to help each other heal.”
President Joe Biden subsequently approved an emergency declaration in Florida and ordered federal assistance to supplement state and local response efforts in the wake of the partial building collapse. The action authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “identify, mobilize, and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency,” according to a statement from the White House.
Levine Cava told ABC News that she’s “grateful” to the president.
“He called me yesterday morning and asked me what I needed. I told him FEMA would be a great assist to us and he moved mountains,” she said.
The Miami-Dade Fire Rescue is now pulling additional resources from FEMA to assist with the search and rescue efforts, Jadallah told reporters Friday morning.
Florida Gov. DeSantis said Friday that in a call with Biden, the president offered to send personnel to support the investigation if needed.
“We need a definitive explanation for how this could have happened,” he said. “I do think it’s important that it’s timely because you have a lot of families here that lost loved ones in this building collapse. They have a right to know. You have other folks who were able to get out safely, but then lost their homes.”
