Search and Rescue Continues in Surfside Florida as ‘Elsa’ Nears Coast

An update on the condo collapse in Surfside Florida. Over the weekend, officials made the decision to demolish the remaining part of the building that was left still standing before hurricane Elsa reaches the coast. This morning during a press conference officials announced that the death toll has risen to 32 with 113 people unaccounted for.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniellla Levine Cava also said the ‘National Institute of Standards and Technology, our federal partner, continues to work closely with the structural specialists, with detectives, and the fire rescue crews on site, as the evidence gathering process is well underway.” The mayor also announced that work would be paused briefly if lightning strikes within 2.5 miles of the area. Levine Cava said that teams worked overnight through “extremely adverse and challenging conditions,” pausing at one point because of lightning. And while Surfside isn’t in Elsa’s cone, the area is expected to get strong wind gusts and showers throughout the day. She said “we’re closely monitoring the weather, and we now have our weather service embedded within our search and rescue teams to work closely to track for any changes that could impact the work to assure the safety of our first responders.”