Source: Politics
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said Sunday that she hopes the collapse of the condo in Surfside was “an anomaly,” and that officials are continuing to investigate what happened, in addition to reinspecting older buildings in the area.
The death toll from the collapse rose to nine Sunday, and the number of residents missing remained more than 150. Rescuers continue to scour the rubble for any possible survivors.
Over the weekend, Levine Cava announced a 30-day audit for buildings 40 years or older in response to the incident.
She told Chuck Todd of NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that since Hurricane Andrew hit the area in 1992, buildings have been built and inspected up to a certain code. The 13-story Champlain Towers South, which collapsed around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, was built in 1981.
Once more information becomes available, Levine Cava said, “we may look at what else we may do,” beyond the re-inspections of those buildings 40 years or older.
“At this point, we’re starting with the review of those 40 plus, and look this, as far as we know and hope, is an anomaly, but the investigation is going to be ongoing,” she added. “Right now, we’re still very focused on search and rescue.”
With hurricane season on the horizon, Levine Cava said the area is prepared.
“Our emergency operation center is ready to go. It is activated because of this disaster,” she said. “We are on top of it. Of course we’ll deal with whatever comes our way.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that he “has little doubt we will know why this happened and be able to make changes to building codes if necessary to prevent it from happening again.”
“Right now, 99 percent of the focus is on trying to find any survivors and give these families closure on this terrible tragedy,” he added.