NIST finds Surfside Champlain Towers initiated at pool deck due to critically low margins of safety by design – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports
SURFSIDE, FLA. (WSVN) – Nearly four years after the tragic collapse of the Surfside Champlain claimed 98 lives, the National Institute of Standards and Technology has released a preliminary report that concluded that the pool deck began to collapse approximately seven more minutes before the building fell to the ground.
The detailed report reads:
“It is more likely that the collapse initiated in the pool deck than the tower. At the time of the failure, the pool deck’s slab-column connections had critically low margins of safety. The bulk of the critically low margins of safety was caused by design understrength and misplaced slab reinforcement. The structure had low resistance to progressive collapse, allowing the collapse of the pool deck to spread into and throughout the middle and east parts of the tower.”
The collapse happened on June 24, 2021 and affected families globally with victims ranging in age from 1 to 92. Rescue missions lasted days on end with rescue personnel coming to South Florida from around the world.
The towers have since been demolished and set to be redeveloped.
The probe into the collapse was delayed several times; the federal investigation was expected to be completed back in June, however only preliminary findings that focused on the possible failures of slab-column connections in the pool deck, weakened columns in the tower, and failure of joints that connect the slabs in the columns were released.
Investigators ruled out the collapse being related to issues underneath the building, like settling, sinking or piling failure, adding that those structural issues existed for decades.
The final report is expected to be released in 2026.
Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.
Copyright 2025 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
