Yesterday, a demolition team brought down the remaining structure of the collapsed Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida. The death count is now at 27, with 118 people still unaccounted for.
Since the devastating building collapse on June 26, engineers, scientists, and policy-makers have been trying to make sense of how this happened—and if it could have been prevented.
Miami-based meteorologist John Morales says that the condo collapse is likely not a “Black Swan” event—we probably could have seen it coming. Today, he joins us on the show to discuss his Bulletin article on Surfside, weather and climate change, water and flooding, insurance and property values, and other issues facing residents in coastal Florida as the climate crisis escalates.
John Morales is an atmospheric and environmental scientist and a fellow of the American Meteorological Society. He is chief meteorologist for WTVJ NBC6-TV in Miami and the author of Huracanes, a Spanish-language reference book on hurricanes. He recently wrote a piece for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists called “In climate change era, was Surfside collapse really an unpredictable ‘Black Swan’ event?”
Cover photo: “Surfside condominium collapse” by Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, public domain
