For four decades, the Champlain Tower South condominium sat about 100 yards from the sea, much of that distance covered by sand. During that time, the tide ebbed and flowed toward the building nearly 60,000 times. A full moon rose in the sky 500 times. The condo witnessed it all. Then, on Thursday, it was gone.
“The whole regulatory apparatus is behind the times, relative to current risks,” said Clinton Andrews, a professor of urban planning and director of the Center for Green Building at Rutgers University. “I think the case in Florida illustrates that problem.”