Search and rescue efforts resume at Surfside as mayor considers demolition of remaining tower

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U.S. President Joe Biden shakes hands with Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis as he meets rescue teams and first responders on the building collapse in Surfside in Miami, Florida U.S., July 1, 2021. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Search and rescue efforts at the collapsed Surfside tower resumed Thursday after being suspended for most of the day.

Officials halted work after concerns about the stability of the remaining tower which Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava says will likely be demolished.

Search crews stopped shortly after 2 a.m., roughly one week since the tower first collapsed and hours before President Biden arrived in the community.

Crews found remains of six people Wednesday. 18 individuals are confirmed dead and 145 are still missing.

Another factor for officials and rescue workers to contend with is Tropical Storm Elsa.

The latest forecast for Elsa shows Florida in the storm’s cone of uncertainty.

The National Hurricane Center warned of a risk of storm surge, wind and rainfall impacts in the Florida Keys and parts of the southern Florida peninsula early next week.

Ian Toner contributed to this report.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, (R) Florida: “Last night, there was issues with with the remaining structure and our state assets are being provided to Miami-Dade in terms of engineering know how so that they can look to see what their options are to handle this. Obviously, we believe that continuing searching is something that’s very, very important. So we have Florida Department of Transportation engineers working. I know that that fire department and the county are getting the different options on how to handle this. But of course, we’re going to provide whatever resources they need to be able to allow the searches to continue.

Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, (D) Miami-Dade County: “As many of you have already seen, we were forced to halt operations on the collapse in the early hours of the morning due to structural concerns about the standing structure. We’re doing everything we can to ensure that the safety of our first responders is paramount and to continue our search and rescue operation as soon as it is safe to do so. And our engineers are continuing to monitor the structure as we’ve paused operations to evaluate the situation and all possible options and next steps, including with the assistance of the state engineers. I want to stress that President Biden’s visit today will have no impact on what happens at this site. The search and rescue operation will continue as soon as it is safe to do so. The only reason for this pause is concerns about the standing structure. We’ve already informed the families this morning who are waiting and waiting about this development. And we have worked to answer all the questions that they have about the operation, and we will continue to keep the families and all of you informed as we get new information throughout the day.”

Search and rescue efforts resume at Surfside as mayor considers demolition of remaining tower

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