Pool Deck May Be the Origin of the Deadly Surfside Condo Collapse, Federal Investigators Say

Mar. 15, 2025

Aftermath of the Surfside condo collapse.Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty

Federal investigators believe the2021 condominium collapsethat killed 98 people in Surfside, Fla., may have begun with the pool deck.

During a public update in Maryland on Thursday, investigators with the National Institute of Standards and Technology announced “strong evidence” that suggests the first major collapse at Champlain Towers South building occurred at the pool deck, according to theMiami Herald.

“We want our investigation of this failure to have lasting impact,” said the NIST’s lead investigator, Judith Mitrani-Reiser, per theHerald. “We want it to save lives, and we want it to ensure this never happens again.”

“We’ve discovered several places where the building did not meet the requirements of the drawings, the building code or common practice,” said Jim Harris, one of the team’s lead engineers.

Aftermath of the Surfside condo collapse.Joe Raedle/Getty

Failures in slab-column connections in the pool deck are among the “most probable” initiation points, investigators said, per theHerald. Investigators believe the probability of underground factors, such as sinkholes, causing the collapse is “very low.”

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Investigators also said an explosion or explosive device did not appear to cause the building to collapse.

Nearly $30 million has been spent looking into the 2021 building collapse, they added.

A final report is expected to be released in September 2025.

Jean Wodnicki, president of the Champlain South Towers condo association,warned residentsabout the building’s ongoing deterioration two months before the collapse.

source: people.com