Last week, search crews reached the bottom of the rubble at the Champlain Towers condo building site in Surfside, Florida, where at least 98 people perished due to a deadly collapse in June. The exact cause is still unclear, but lack of maintenance, structural damage from exposure to salty sea air and storms, and subsidence (sinking) in combination with sea level rise may be to blame. Experts say although a similar tragedy is less likely in the tri-state area, buildings in Atlantic City and coastal Long Island are most at risk.
“If I was a building inspector in any one of those towns, I would be doing overtime right now,” said Clint Andrews, professor of Urban Planning at Rutgers University.