President Joe Biden will travel Thursday to Surfside, Florida, to survey the collapsed condo building, as rescue operations were paused early Thursday morning over “structural concerns.”
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told the Washington Post “everything we can to ensure the safety of our first responders is paramount and to continue our search-and-rescue operation as soon as it’s safe to do so.”
“The only reason for this pause is concerns about the standing structure,” she explained. “We’ve already informed the families this morning who are waiting and waiting about this development.”
Biden intends to meet with first responders and relatives of condo residents, White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, and wants “to get a sense of how the building collapsed, what factors led to the collapse.”
“That’s going to be the focus of today,” said Jean-Pierre. “How can we offer comfort? What else can we do?”
But Biden’s visit is perhaps ill-timed with the devastating news that rescue attempts are stalled due to “structural concerns” with the erect portion of Champlain Towers South, which could topple over on the search and rescue teams.
Mayor Cava told the Post Biden’s inspection of the situation would “not affect operations.”
So far, the collapse of the building has killed 18 residents with 145 still unaccounted for.