SURFSIDE, Fla.—City officials decided to demolish the remaining part of Champlain Towers South with explosives as soon as Sunday, accelerating their plans due to an approaching tropical storm.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said she made the difficult decision, balancing the need to keep searching for victims and investigate the collapse with the need to protect rescue workers and area residents from further harm if the building were to fall. Officials had expected to take weeks planning a methodical removal of the remaining structure.
“The fear was the hurricane might take it down for us and take it down in the wrong direction,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said.
Search-and-rescue workers recovered two additional bodies overnight at the partially collapsed condo building in Surfside, bringing the death toll to 24 with about 120 still unaccounted for.
The rescue effort-—now in its 10th day—has been painstaking, officials said, given the unstable nature of the collapsed rubble of the 13-story tower and concerns about the stability of the structure still standing at the Champlain Towers South complex. The search was put on hold for roughly 14 hours Thursday due to shifting in the standing structure. It has been further complicated by fire breaking out in the debris and frequent rain.