Water Underneath Surfside Building Was Long-standing Concern of Residents Before Collapse

A new video shows firefighters in standing water underneath the collapsed building in Surfside, Florida, that was a concern of residents before the collapse.

The video, posted to Twitter by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, shows fire officials in the basement parking garage of the Champlain Tower, which collapsed on Thursday. The water in the parking garage appears to be at the firefighters' knee height as they try to assess portions of the collapsed building.

In a tweet, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue said that they received assistance from the county's Technical Rescue Team (TRT) and Florida Task Force-1 (FLTF1) in the building's parking garage.

"#MDFR #TRT & #FLTF1 are working in the basement parking garage at Champlain Towers. Firefighters continue working on locating possible victims, while dealing with heavy damage and changing conditions in the parking garage," the tweet read.

On Thursday, a portion of Champlain Towers South in Surfside collapsed, leaving at least four dead and well over 100 individuals unaccounted for. Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said, "The building is literally pancaked." Officials have yet to identify the individuals that were found dead in the collapse.

During a press conference on Friday morning, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that the number of those found dead is "very fluid" and could increase as officials continue to search the building.

While officials have not yet announced a definitive cause for the building's collapse, Surfside Town Commissioner Eliana Salzhauer recently told the Miami Herald that the building's residents previously expressed concerns over the water in the basement parking garage that leaked from the second-floor pool deck.

Newsweek reached out to Salzhauer for further comment.

Raysa Rodriguez, a resident of the building's ninth floor, expressed similar concerns while speaking to The Wall Street Journal after the collapse, saying that the water leaks in the parking garage needed to be addressed.

One couple that was able to safely escape the collapse told News Nation Now that they encountered the water seen in the video posted by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue while trying to leave. The couple instead ran back upstairs and was rescued by a cherry picker.

On Friday, Miami-Dade rescue posted another video of officials searching through the debris and rubble from the collapsed building.

"#MDFR #FLTF1conducting search and rescue operations in the rubble of the #SurfsideBuildingCollapse. Heavy machinery is being used in order to carefully lift and move around debris to access search areas," they tweeted.

Newsweek reached out to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue for further comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.