MIAMI BEACH, Fla. — Officials in the South Florida city of Miami Beach on Thursday ordered residents of a condominium tower to evacuate the building due to structural damage.
Engineers found significant damage to a structural beam in the parking garage of the Port Royale Condominium, a 164-unit building, the Miami Herald reported.
Melissa Berthier, a spokesperson for the city of Miami Beach, said Thursday afternoon that the city planned to post an unsafe structure notice and order the condominium’s residents to immediately vacate the 14-story building, according to the newspaper.
Updated story w/photos from @alie_skow, a copy of the engineer's report, and details from the scene as residents scrambled to leave the building: https://t.co/O9QpPEtP34
— Aaron Leibowitz (@aaron_leib) October 28, 2022
The building is undergoing a 50-year recertification, WTVJ reported.
The report of the unsafe structure comes 16 months after the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in nearby Surfside on June 24, 2021, which killed 98 people.
Under a Miami-Dade County ordinance passed after the Surfside condo collapse, building owners must provide up to three months of housing and associated costs if officials decide their building is unsafe because of negligent maintenance, the Herald reported.
“I mean, it’s kind of a shock right now,” Mark Dudley, a resident of the building, told WSVN-TV. “Anytime safety is involved, you got to do what you have to do. As bad as it hurts for all the residents and all the elderly, if it’s unsafe, it’s unsafe.”
Residents were required to leave the building by 7 p.m. EDT, the Herald reported.
“I feel very bad for a lot of people, but life is more important than money right now,” another resident, Markay Markaj, told the television station.
Records show the building was built in 1971, WTVJ reported. It is unclear how many residents live in the condominium, according to the television station.
“The tenant relocation ordinance will apply to those who rent in the building as required by municipal code,” city officials said in a statement.
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