Miami declares condo unsafe, forcing residents to evacuate
▶ Watch Video: Officials identify final victim of Surfside, Florida, condo building collapse
Residents of a condominium building in Miami were evacuated from a condominium building that was deemed unsafe, forcing city officials to help them find temporary shelter, a city spokesperson said Tuesday.
The eight-story building, which includes 138 units, was evacuated early Monday. The city’s Human Services Department and the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust are helping residents find places to stay.
“We don’t know where we are going to go,” resident Dairon Deramico told CBS Miami. “The city is saying they are going to give us a place, maybe for a couple of weeks or a few days. I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
The city said it informed staffers on July 7 that the building failed its 40-year re-certification, CBS Miami reported. On August 9, the city’s Building Department found that un-permitted work had been taking place on the building and said, “the columns to be structurally insufficient.”
“My grandfather just comes in the house screaming, ‘We have to leave immediately,” resident Mya Castanedo told the station. “It’s really chaotic because we’re not getting a final answer of what’s going on. Everyone’s just trying to pack their stuff and find somewhere to go.”
Another resident, Marialejandra Perez, said she immediately packed her bags for her mom and grandmother before gathering her dogs. “We’re just here, you know, waiting.”
The evacuation comes six weeks after the collapse of the condo building in Surfside that left 97 people dead. Miami-Dade County’s mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, called for an inspection of all high-rise buildings 40 years and older.
Last month, another condo in North Miami Beach was evacuated after an inspection found unsafe structural conditions.