SURFSIDE, Fla. — Days after a deadly building collapse in South Florida, many questions still remain about how this happened and what can be done to keep this from happening again.
Federal officials are on the scene, helping with the investigation. Now, one local lawmaker is pushing for change statewide.
"You're just standing there and all of a sudden the weather kicks up, and then finding family pictures, you know, falling at your feet," Sen. Jason Pizzo said, reflecting on his experience touring the site of that deadly collapse.
His district includes the town of Surfside. For days, he has been front and center at the devastation.
"I was a Manhattan resident during 911, lost a couple high school friends and family members, friends and family," said Pizzo.
"What this entire scene is missing is some individual to blame, you know, some evil or some wrongdoing," he added.
While a 2018 structural engineering report cited water intrusion and cracks in a parking garage, it's still not known what caused these Surfside condominiums to collapse.
"On TV, it looks like Oklahoma City, in person, it feels like 911. But again, it's like missing someone to immediately blame or be angry at," said Pizzo.
He says he's already spoken with Gov. Ron DeSantis, and they are working on ways to change Florida's laws about building inspections.
"We do need a statewide look, either by statute by rule or by policy, and really needs to incorporate two completely separate things," Pizzo said. "You have an environmental situation which is completely different than the design and construction. It doesn't suffer the same subsurface situation. So, what I want to be mindful of it's not just the age of a building that may deteriorate over time, but also the geographic location."
Florida has some of the strictest building codes in the country, but they were not put in place until the 90s, after Hurricane Andrew devastated parts of South Florida.
Champlain Towers South was built in 1981. In Miami-Dade County, every four decades, the building must undergo a 40-year recertification process.
That process is something Sen. Pizzo says needs to be expanded.
"It needs to be expanded. There were, I wouldn't call them shortcuts, but there were certain abbreviations that I think if we were being more prophylactic and more scrupulous on these things, we would have expanded the definition or the scope of the recertification process that we need to look at," said Pizzo.
In the days ahead, Sen. Pizzo says he'll be in Surfside meeting with families of the missing loved ones and admiring the dedication of rescue crews who are giving their all in this search and rescue process.
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