The Miami Herald’s investigative team unearths an exclusive story in the eleventh episode of Collapse: Disaster in Surfside. Large cracks in massive planters on the pool deck were noticed by the Champlain Towers' building manager, who alerted the structural engineer in charge of repairing the building for its 40-year certification—but nothing was done. Experts interviewed by the Herald say it was a missed warning sign —a fatal misdiagnosis—and that had emergency action been taken, 98 lives may not have been lost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://megaphone.fm/adchoices">megaphone.fm/adchoices</a>

The Lives Lived and Lost

In the middle of the night on June 24, 2021, a 12-story section of the Champlain Towers South condominium complex roared to the ground, killing 98 people in Surfside, Florida.
Collapse: Disaster in Surfside is a 12-part investigative and narrative reporting project featuring the Pulitzer-Prize-winning coverage of the Miami Herald in collaboration with Treefort Media.
We’re talking with survivors, witnesses, experts, first responders, and journalists, to get the whole story of Surfside. How the building went up, and why it went down. We’re piecing together 911 calls, police body camera recordings, surveillance footage, and forensic engineers digging deep into the evidence to find the truth.
What went wrong? Who’s going to be held accountable? Could something like Surfside happen again? We’re looking for answers.
And we’re meeting the people who called it home. We’re getting the stories of the lives lived and lost there.
All this and more through the reporting of the Miami Herald, its partners, and host Paul Beban.