Sunday, July 4, 2021

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Explosives bring down rest of South Florida collapsed condo

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 11:12 PM PDT

SURFSIDE, Florida -- Demolition crews set off explosives late Sunday, July 4, that brought down the damaged remaining portion of a collapsed South Florida condo building, a key step to resuming the search for victims as rescuers seek access to new areas of the rubble.

A loud rat-at-tat of explosions echoed from the structure just before 10:30 p.m. Then the building began to fall, one floor after another, cascading into an explosion of dust. Plumes billowed into the air, as crowds watched the scene from afar.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told the Associated Press after the demolition that crews had been given the all-clear to resume their search-and-rescue mission to locate the 121 people believed to be missing under a wing of the Champlain Tower South that collapsed June 24. So far, rescuers have recovered the remains of 24 people. No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the collapse.

On Sunday, Miami-Dade police identified David Epstein, 58, as one of the two dozen people known to have perished in the fallen tower. His remains were recovered Friday.

The demolition went "exactly as planned," she said. "It was picture perfect. Exactly what we were told would happen."

Crews were to begin clearing some of the new debris so rescuers could start making their way into parts of the underground garage that is of particular interest. Once there, they were hoping to get a clearer picture of voids that may exist in the rubble and could possibly harbor survivors.

Levine Cava expressed relief that the search for victims can now continue, after being suspended on Saturday so workers could begin rigging the damaged but still-upright portion of the partly-collapsed tower with explosives — a precarious operation that could have caused the structure to fail.

"I feel relief because this building was unstable. The building was hampering our search efforts," Levine Cava said.

Rescuers are hoping the demolition will give them access for the first time to parts of the garage area that are a focus of interest. Once a new pathway into the initial rubble is secure, "we will go back to the debris pile, and we'll begin our search and rescue efforts," Miami-Dade Fire Chief Albert Cominsky said.

The decision to demolish the remnants of the Surfside building came after concerns mounted that the damaged structure was at risk of falling, endangering the crews below and preventing them from operating in some areas. Parts of the remaining building shifted on Thursday, prompting a 15-hour suspension in the work. An approaching storm also added urgency to the concerns.

"I truly believe ... that the family members recognize and appreciate that we are proceeding in the best possible fashion to allow us to do the search that we need to do," Levine Cava said.

Residents in the area were told to stay inside until two hours after the blast to avoid the dust raised by the implosion. Local authorities had gone door-to-door to advise them of the timing, and to ask them to keep windows closed.

Approaching Tropical Storm Elsa has added urgency to the demolition plans with forecasts suggesting there could be strong winds in the area by Monday. President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Florida because of the storm, making federal aid possible.

The latest forecasts have moved the storm westward, mostly sparing South Florida, but National Hurricane Center meteorologist Robert Molleda said the area could still feel effects.

"We're expecting primarily tropical storm force gusts," Molleda said, referring to gusts above 40 mph (64 kph).

The method used for Sunday night's demolition is called "energetic felling," which uses small detonation devices and relies on the force of gravity. Levine Cava, speaking ahead of the demolition, said that should bring the building down in place, containing the collapse to the immediate surroundings so as to minimally disturb the existing mound of debris — where scores of people are believed to be trapped.

Officials used tarps to visually mark the search area, in case new debris scatters unexpectedly.

State officials said they hired the BG Group, a general contractor based in Delray Beach, Florida, to lead the demolition. They did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how the firm was selected, but a contract for the projects calls for the state to pay the company $935,000.

A spokesperson for the state's Division of Emergency Management said the company is subcontracting with Maryland-based Controlled Demolition Inc., which experts say is among only a handful of companies in the U.S. that demolishes structures using explosives. The company was supposed to place explosives on the basement and lobby levels of the still-standing structure, according to the contract for the work.

CDI is "probably one of the best" in the industry, said Steve Schwartz, a member of the National Demolition Association's board of directors. He described the company's president and owner, Mark Loizeaux, as "cool, calm and collected."

In implosions — using explosives to have a building fall in on itself — the charges are generally set off in rapid succession over a matter of seconds, said Scott Homrich, who heads the National Demolition Association and runs his own demolition company in Detroit, Michigan. Setting the explosives off at intervals serves to break up the building at the same time it's coming down.

Officials acknowledged that the tragedy was continuing to unfold during the July 4th holiday.

"This July 4 we're reminded that patriotism isn't just about loyalty to country," said Levine Cava. "It's about loyalty to one another — to our communities, to those in need whose names or stories we may not know ever, but to whom we are connected by compassion and by resilience." (AP)

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Japan searches for dozens missing in resort town mudslide

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 11:03 PM PDT

ATAMI, Japan -- Rescue workers slogged through mud and debris Monday, July 5, looking for dozens feared missing after a giant landslide ripped through a Japanese seaside resort town, killing at least three people.

Eighty people were still unaccounted for, according to Shizuoka prefectural disaster management official Takamichi Sugiyama. Officials were preparing to release their names in hopes of reaching some that might not have been caught in the landslide. Initially, 147 of those people were unreachable, but that number was revised downward after city officials confirmed some had safely evacuated or were away when the disaster struck, it said.

The disaster is an added trial as authorities prepare for the Tokyo Olympics, due to start in less than three weeks, while Japan is still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

At least 20 were initially described as missing. Adding to confusion over casualties is that Atami is a vacation city, with many apartments and homes unoccupied for long parts of the year, their listed residents living in other places.

Others may be away visiting relatives or friends or not answering the phone, officials said. They hope to get in touch with more of those unaccounted for on Monday.

The landslide occurred Saturday after several days of heavy rains. Witnesses heard a giant roar as a small stream turned into a torrent, carrying black mud, trees, rocks and debris from buildings.

Bystanders were heard gasping in horror on cell phone videos taken as it happened.

Like many seaside and mountain towns in Japan, Atami is built on steep hillsides, its roads winding through bits of forest and heavy vegetation. With other parts of Japan expecting heavy rains in what is known as Japan's rainy season, authorities elsewhere were also surveying hillsides. NHK carried a program Monday about risk factors and warning signs that might precede a landslide.

Three coast guard ships, and six military drones were backing up the hundreds of troops, firefighters and other rescue workers toiling in the rain and fog in search of possible survivors.

The mudslide struck Atami's Izusan neighborhood, known for its hot springs, a shrine and shopping streets. Atami is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

Naoto Date, an actor who happened to be visiting the Izusan area after a filming session, woke up to sirens in the neighborhood when he was in his house, which is next to his mother's. Both of them were safe, but he made sure his mother walked to a nearby community center to evacuate, and he called all his friends and schoolmates and made sure they'd survived.

"I grew up here and my classmates and friends live here. I'm so sad to see my neighborhood where I used to play with my friends is now destroyed," Date told The Associated Press in a video interview from his home in Atami.

So far, Date said his friends all had safely evacuated, and his mother moved to a hotel in a safer location. Date, who lives in Tokyo, said he was staying away from evacuation centers due to concern about the coronavirus.

Even though his house was located in a hazard area, he said he never imagined it would be hit by a disaster.

"I used to take it not so seriously and I regret that," he said. He filmed scenes in his neighborhood with muddy water gushing down and rescuers wading through knee-deep mud.

He also went to the sea where toppled cars were floating with debris from destroyed homes. "Many people saw their homes and belongings and everything washed away. They won't be able to return home, and it must require an unimaginable effort to recover."

Three people had been found dead as of early Monday, Fire and Disaster Management Agency and local officials said. Twenty-three people stranded by the mudslide were rescued, including three who were injured.

Shizuoka's governor, Heita Kawakatsu told a news conference Sunday that land development upstream may have been a factor in the mudslide. Citing a preliminary examination by drone, Kawakatsu said massive amounts of soil that had been heaped up in the construction area had all washed down.

Kawakatsu said he will investigate the land development. Media reports said a planned housing development was abandoned after its operator ran into financial problems. (AP)

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Vatican says pope 'reacted well' to intestinal surgery

Posted: 04 Jul 2021 04:02 PM PDT

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis "reacted well" to planned intestinal surgery Sunday evening at a Rome hospital, the Vatican said, without giving much detail about the pontiff's condition.

In a statement late Sunday, a Holy See spokesman, Matteo Bruni, said the 84-year-old Francis had general anesthesia during the surgery necessitated by a stenosis, or narrowing, of the sigmoid portion of the large intestine.

The written statement, which came shortly before midnight, was notable for its scarcity of medical detail.

Bruni didn't say how long surgery lasted. Nor did he indicate if the pope had regained consciousness after the anesthesia or how long Francis was expected to stay in Rome's Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic.

Francis was expected to convalesce for a few days in a special 10th floor suite reserved for popes.

"The Holy Father, admitted in the afternoon to A. Gemelli Polyclinic, underwent in the evening planned surgery for a diverticular stenosis of the sigmoid" portion of the colon, Bruni said in the brief written statement. "The Holy Father reacted well to the surgery conducted under general anesthesia," the spokesman said, noting there was a four-person surgical team, plus a four-person anesthesiologist team.

Among those present in the operating room was the official papal physician, whom Francis tapped earlier this year. The pope's previous physician had contracted COVID-19 and died at Gemelli while hospitalized for cancer treatment.

It was a remarkable end to a day that began publicly for Francis when, during his traditional Sunday appearance to the faithful in St. Peter's Square, he cheerfully announced he would go to Hungary and Slovakia in September. The pope made no mention of his impending surgery, but headed shortly after to Gemelli, a Catholic teaching hospital.

After he was admitted, the Vatican revealed that Francis had been diagnosed with a narrowing in the large intestine. The main surgeon was Dr. Sergio Alfieri, the director of Gemelli's digestive surgery department.

A week earlier, Francis had used his same Sunday appearance to ask the public for special prayers for himself, which may have been related to the planned surgery.

"I ask you to pray for the pope, pray in a special way," Francis had asked the faithful in the square on June 27. "The pope needs your prayers," he said, adding his thanks and saying "I know you will do that."

A diverticulum is pouch-like protrusion through the muscular wall of the intestine.

When diverticula become inflamed — a common condition, especially in older people — part of the intestine can sometimes narrow and surgery might be required, according to gastroenterologists. Such surgery can be performed under general anesthesia, possibly with a laparoscopic intervention. Sometimes a re-sectioning of the affected part of the intestine is needed.

Francis is in generally good health, but he did have part of one lung removed as a young man. He also suffers from sciatica, in which a nerve affects the lower back and leg, a painful condition that has forced him at times to skip scheduled appearances.

The pope had a particularly demanding set of appointments last week, including celebrating a Mass on Tuesday to mark the Catholic feast day honoring Saints Peter and Paul, and later in the week, presiding at a special prayer service for Lebanon. On June 28, he also had a long private audience at the Vatican with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Throughout all those engagements, Francis appeared to be in good spirits.

Get-well wishes began arriving immediately for Francis. Italian President Sergio Mattarella, as soon as he landed in Paris for a state visit in France, offered an "affectionate thought" on behalf of all Italians. Mattarella said he was wishing for "a good convalescence and even a speedier recovery" for the pope.

Gemelli doctors have performed surgery before on popes, notably Pope John Paul II, who had what the Vatican said was a benign tumor in his colon removed in 1992. John Paul had several other surgeries at the hospital, including after being shot by a gunman in St. Peter's Square in 1981. After those surgeries, the Vatican and hospital officials gave detailed accounts of the pope's medical condition.

John Paul also had several medical issues in his final years, including severe complications from Parkinson's disease, and had numerous stays at Gemelli. (AP)

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