By Dennis Romero - NBC News
Local authorities on Friday ordered residents of a building in Miami Beach North, Florida, to evacuate their homes, considering that the structure is not safe.
The Crestview Towers Condominium, built in 1972, was examined for recertification on January 11, and an engineer determined that the complex of 156 homes was "structurally and electrically unsafe," according to a statement issued this Friday. by the city of Miami Beach North.
The report, however, was not taken into account by the city's Department of Housing and Planning until this Friday, after local authorities struggled to review the structural integrity of all residential buildings of more than five floors after the June 24 collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in nearby Surfside.
The Crestview Towers Condominium, July 2.
Getty Images
The Department of Planning "ordered the immediate closure and evacuation" of the Crestview Tower condominium as a result of this report, as reported.
A municipal official came to the scene on Friday and checked its unstable conditions, he added.
Local police capital Juan Pinillos confirmed that his agents are supervising the evacuation: "We are making every effort to ensure that residents in these buildings are evacuated safely," he said in an email.
The city manager, Arthur H. Sorey III, said in a statement that the evacuations are being carried out as a “precaution” pending a more in-depth study of the integrity of the building: “Nothing is more important than the safety and lives of our residents, and we will not rest until we ensure that the building is 100% safe, "he said.
The municipal commission will hold an extraordinary meeting this Saturday to discuss the steps to follow now. Last Wednesday, residents of a condo in central Florida had to be relocated after Osceola County officials ruled that 72 homes in multiple buildings posed a security threat at the Images condo in the city of Kissimmee, 20 miles south of Orlando.
