Miami-Dade county to taking renewed looks at inspecting buildings after the tragic collapse of a Surfside, Florida, condo building Thursday that left nine confirmed dead and more than 150 missing.
"This, as far as we know and hope, is an anomaly, but the investigation is going to be ongoing," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.
"Right now, we're still very focused on search and rescue."
Search and rescued have recovered human remains from the rubble and nine have been confirmed dead, including one who died at the hospital, according to the mayor Sunday.
There is a volunteer evacuation for a "sister building" of a similarly constructed tower in the area.
"Anyone who chooses to leave can, can be supported," she told host Chuck Todd. "It's also true that the town building inspector went and did not find any immediate causes of concern."
But other 40 years or older buildings built before Hurricane Andrew standards were set in the 1990s will face renewed scrutiny now, she added.
"We have a very strong building code, as you know, and based on Hurricane Andrew, as you say, we learned so much from that," she said. "And buildings subsequent have been built to a very high standard. For sure, when we get this information, we may look at what else we might do. At this point, we're starting with the review of those 40-plus."
There will be a 30-day review process involved in confirming the county's buildings inspections.
"We have a recertification process that starts at 40 years and then it's every 10 years thereafter – so, it's really important that we make sure that all of the buildings have followed that procedure, that we have the necessary reports on file, and that all of the remediation that has been ordered in those reports, recommended in those reports goes forward," she continued.
"We'll be doing that deep dive over the next 30 days to make sure that we're up to date. Now, these are the buildings that are in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, which is about 40% of the county – 60% is in cities, and cities are going to have to do their own."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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