Florida condo collapse: Video taken minutes before disaster appears to show water streaming into basement
SURFSIDE, Fla. - Video shared on TikTok appears to show a stream of water allegedly spilling into the basement level garage of the Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida, just moments before it collapsed on June 24.
A woman who was staying at a hotel across the street just north of the condominiums recorded the video as water is seen draining down into the garage. The cause and the extent of damage at the time were unclear.
"The basement was the first to collapse," wrote @adrianitacastillero. The user wrote that the video was recorded at 1:18 a.m. ET. A wing of the 12-story building came down with a roar around 1:30 a.m.
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The same woman shared a second video showing the aftermath of the collapse.
The deadly tragedy left at least 18 people dead and 145 unaccounted for.
RELATED: Florida condo collapse death toll rises to 18 after 2 children found in rubble
Since the sudden collapse of the 12-story building last week, rescuers have been working to peel back layers of concrete on the pancaked building without disturbing the unstable pile of debris.
As more human remains emerged Wednesday from the rubble of the collapsed Florida condo tower, the dead this time included the first children, ages 4 and 10, a loss that the Miami-Dade mayor called "too great to bear."
Mayor Daniella Levine Cava made the announcement nearly a week after the Florida building came crashing down. After some preliminary remarks at a media briefing, she took a deep breath to gather herself and stared down at her notes. She spoke haltingly and said the disclosure came with "great sorrow, real pain."
"So any loss of life, especially given the unexpected, unprecedented nature of this event, is a tragedy," she said. But the loss of children was an even heavier burden.
FILE - Search and rescue teams look for possible survivors and remains in the partially collapsed 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building on June 30, 2021 in Surfside, Florida.
RELATED: Orlando surgeon hoping rescuers find his mother and other victims at Surfside condo site
The cause of the collapse is under investigation. A 2018 engineering report found that the building's ground-floor pool deck was resting on a concrete slab that had "major structural damage" and needed extensive repairs. The report also found "abundant cracking" of concrete columns, beams and walls in the parking garage.
Just two months before the building came down, the president of its board wrote a letter to residents saying that structural problems identified in the 2018 inspection had "gotten significantly worse" and that major repairs would cost at least $15.5 million. With bids for the work still pending, the building suddenly collapsed last Thursday.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect the correct timing of when the video was recorded.
The Associated Press and Storyful contributed to this report.