The collapse of the residential condominium at 8777 Collins Ave in Surfside Florida is a massive man-made disaster. A report filed in 2018 by the consulting engineering firm Mirabito Consultants detailed a number of condition issues in that building, and all of the issues that were documented in the report were likely exasperated by the problem of torrential summer rains, and hurricane related flooding in Southern Florida.

The Mirabito report describes issues including cracked and degraded weather-stripping, degraded outdoor tiled areas, cracked and spalling concrete and deteriorated exterior soffits. These are all self-perpetuating issues; meaning they can be caused by exposure to torrential rains or salt-water, and when these issues are already present, additional damage from torrential rains and  salt-water becomes that much worse. This problem is further exacerbated by storm surge from increasingly frequent hurricanes. A CBS Evening News report from 2017 shows flooding in Miami’s business district during Hurricane Irma. The “Brickell Avenue” area referenced in this news report, is one block over from the Collins Avenue area.

The major problem for Florida coastal cities is that modern construction of large condominium and office towers typically employs engineered concrete slabs and structural steel. Because large buildings have structures that extend several stories underground, any amount of visible storm surge at ground level during a hurricane means a substantial portion of that structure is inundated with salt-water washing in from the ocean. Once the structure of a building is permeated with a healthy dose of salt, the continued introduction of moisture from failure to repair seals, soffits and concrete surfaces leads to corrosion of structural steel and an increased likelihood of building collapse. As structural steel beams corrode, the chance of a concrete slab breaking loose increases, and because those slabs are so large and heavy, all it takes is for one of them to fail to end up with a catastrophic chain reaction.

Florida Republicans are notoriously regulation-averse, and are not likely to adopt safety regulations regarding maintaining the structural integrity of buildings, which means for right now, anyone who is thinking of buying a house in Florida had better stick to single story structures, or buy property that’s far enough inland so that salt permeation from hurricane storm surge isn’t a concern.