Panic and despair: what the residents of the collapsed building in Florida said to the 911 dispatchers

The recordings of emergency calls in Florida when an oceanfront condominium collapsed in the middle of the night show panic and despair. Writes about it Pix11.

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"My God! The whole building collapsed!” one caller told a Miami-Dade Police Department dispatcher. The names of the callers are not disclosed.

“It's time for us to leave. Hurry up, hurry up! There was a big explosion,” the second caller said. - There's a lot of smoke there. I can not see anything. We need to get out. I see nothing but smoke."

At least 97 people were killed in the collapse, and several more are missing. The cause has yet to be determined, although there have been several warnings of severe structural damage to the 40-year-old Surfside building.

One of the women who called 911 said she saw the pool begin to sink.

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“I woke up because I heard some noise. At first I couldn’t understand what was happening. I looked outside and saw that the patio was sloping down. The pool started to sink, she said. — Many parts of the building collapsed. The building just collapsed."

Another caller said she was stuck near the garage and needed help. Part of the condominium remained standing after the collapse, but was later demolished.

“Can someone help me get out, please? If the building collapses, it will collapse on me,” the caller said.

The judge approved the sale of the oceanfront property, the proceeds from which will be directed to the victims of the fatal disaster.

At the hearing, Miami-Dade District Judge Michael Hanzman approved the start of the sale process for the Champlain Towers South site, for which, according to the court records, can be raised from $ 100 to $ 110 million.

The court-appointed condominium finance manager, attorney Michael Goldberg, said the judge wants the sale to go quickly.

“He wants us to start exploring a potential sale,” Goldberg confirmed. “The judge really wants the land to be sold and the proceeds to go directly to the victims as quickly as possible.”

The lawyer clarified that this decision does not necessarily prevent the buyer from turning at least part of the territory into a memorial, as some people have argued. Other survivors want the building to be restored so they can return to it.

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Hanzman's ruling was part of a series of lawsuits filed after the collapse. The judge expedited the proceedings and authorized Goldberg to begin disbursing insurance funds to victims and their families.

The judge also approved the return of the $ 2,4 million in deposits that some Champlain condominium owners have already made to pay $ 15 million for the planned overhaul.

In nearby Miami Beach, residents of an 82-year-old two-story apartment building were told to evacuate due to concrete crumbling. City officials have ordered the evacuation of Devon Apartments.

The apartment building is about 2 miles (3 km) from the collapsed building.

After the collapse, Miami-Dade Mayor Danielle Levin Kava ordered an audit of all buildings over 40 years old. Shortly after the start of an audit of condominiums in nearby Miami Beach, an evacuation order was issued for security reasons.

The collapse has prompted officials across the county to grapple with concerns about old apartment buildings.

Manny Vadillo, an attorney representing the owners of the Devon Apartments, said they have been working "diligently" with the city since deciding to demolish the building.

In his words, they began to "orderly evict the building." True, there are 14 people left inside. He said the owners are helping residents move.

“My clients are extremely security-sensitive and visited the property several times last week to speak with tenants,” Vadillo explained. “Some of them lived there for many years.”

Resident Esmart Romero is not surprised that the city deems the building unsafe.

“If you look at the condition of the apartment, it’s not very good,” Romero said.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• In Miami-Dade County, Florida, June 24, partially a 12-storey building collapsed.
• According to a 2020 study by Shimon Wdowinski, Professor of the Department of Earth and Environment, the building, built in 1981, has plunged into the ground at an alarming rate since the 1990s.
• On the list of the missing listed as a Russian-speaking resident of Brooklynwho moved into this house with his wife.
• In an adjacent building in the same complex as a destroyed apartment building in Florida, new cracks appeared in the parking lot, but experts say residents are safe, although voluntary evacuation is in effect.
• Residents of high-rise buildings in the Miami area were forced to evacuate from the buildingrecognized as unsafe.
• Already 4 July was the rest of the building was demolished Champlain Towers South.
• On July 8, the authorities announced that there is no more chance of finding survivors... The rescue operation was replaced by an operation to retrieve the remains.

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