At least 12 people have been confirmed dead as of Tuesday evening.<\/b>
\nThe confirmed death toll in Surfside, Florida, rose to at least 12 on Tuesday, according to Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava. Search and rescue crews have removed more than 3 million pounds of debris from the collapse site as they search for the remaining 149 people who are unaccounted for. First responders expressed their shock in some of the first calls to come from the scene on the morning of the collapse. \u00ab\u00a0We have a 13-story building with most of the building gone. This is gonna be high priority,\u00a0\u00bb one responder said. \u00ab\u00a0This building does not look stable,\u00a0\u00bb per the audio recording. \u00ab\u00a0I see many people on the balconies,\u00a0\u00bb a responder said. \u00ab\u00a0The building is gone. There’s no elevator. This is nothing. I mean, it almost resembles the Trade Center.\u00a0\u00bb Evacuating residents said it \u00ab\u00a0sounded like they heard a bomb,\u00a0\u00bb according to a responder. It’s not yet clear how the building collapsed in the middle of night, though that it had structural damage caused by failed waterproofing under the deck. from the condo board’s president to residents in April said repairs would cost millions. \u00ab\u00a0It could have been a number of things that alone wouldn’t have caused the problem, but together with a trigger caused the problem,\u00a0\u00bb said structural engineer Allyn Kilsheimer, who was hired by the city of Surfside to investigate the collapse. Klisheimer has extensive experience investigating other disasters like the 9\/11 terrorist attack on the Pentagon and the Florida International University in 2018. He said one piece of the puzzle is what a lobby attendant heard before the main collapse. \u00ab\u00a0He heard a muffled boom, and then X number of seconds later, a much bigger boom, and then Y seconds after that, a much bigger boom. So there were three booms. I think I understand the second one, I think I understand the third one. I don’t understand the first one,\u00a0\u00bb Kilsheimer said. Two months ago, condo board president Jean Wodnicki wrote a letter to building residents because the price tag to make repairs that were highlighted in a 2018 engineering report grew to $15 million. The survey had found \u00ab\u00a0major structural damage\u00a0\u00bb to the concrete slab. \u00ab\u00a0The observable damage such as in the garage has gotten significantly worse adding the concrete deterioration is accelerating\u00a0\u00bb, Wodnicki wrote. \u00ab\u00a0The way I read those documents there is nothing that I saw that if I would have read them at the point in time would have made me think the building is going to come down,\u00a0\u00bb Kilsheimer told CBS News.<\/p>\n