The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s National Construction Safety Team has released its findings on the cause of the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida, on June 24, 2021, which killed 98 people.

Investigation Findings

Following an extensive technical investigation, the team concluded that the collapse began in early June 2021, when two connections between garage columns and the pool deck failed. These initial column failures caused cracks to grow and loads to redistribute in the pool deck over the next three weeks, resulting in the transfer of their loads to adjacent slab-column connections that were not strong enough to support them.

This sequence of events ultimately led to the catastrophic collapse on June 24. The investigation highlights the importance of ensuring the structural integrity of buildings to prevent such tragedies.

Original reporting: WPBF (Treasure Coast / Hearst) — read the source article.