Hundreds of beach resorts and hotels in Surfside, Bal Harbour, Miami Beach and Sunny Isles are sinking into the ground at rates that were “unprecedented,” up to 70% of properties in the northern and central Sunny Isles were affected, research by the University. of Miami was found.
The study, published on Friday evening, showed a total of 35 buildings that sank by up to three centimeters between 2016 and 2023, including the iconic Surf Club Towers and the Faena Hotel, the Porsche Design Tower, the Ritz-Carlton Residences, Trump Tower. III and Trump International Beach Resorts. Altogether, the high rise attracts tens of thousands of residents and tourists. Some have more than 300 units, including penthouses that cost millions of dollars.
“Almost all the buildings on the beach itself, are shrinking,” Falk Amelung, a geophysicist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science and lead author of the study, told the Miami Herald. “A lot.”
Preliminary data also shows signs that buildings in downtown Miami, Brickell, and along Broward and Palm Beach beaches are sinking, too. Globally, a similar decline within such a large area has never been reported, the university said in a statement.
Experts have called the study a “game changer” that raises many questions about development on protected islands. For starters, experts said, this could be a sign that rising sea levels, caused by continued greenhouse gas emissions, are accelerating the erosion of the limestone on which South Florida is built.
“It’s probably a bigger problem than we know,” Paul Chinowsky, an engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the Herald.
Initially, researchers looked at satellite images that can measure fractions of an inch of subsidence to see if this event occurred until the fall of the Champlain Towers in Surfside, the 2021 disaster that killed 98 people and led to laws calling for a review of the process. senior condos throughout the state. The researchers found no signs of repair prior to the crash “indicating that repair was not the cause of the crash,” according to the statement.
Instead, they found shelter on the buildings near the beach to the north and south of it.
Amazing findings
“The surprising thing was that it was there at all. So we didn’t believe it at first, “Amelung said, explaining that his team analyzed several sources that confirmed the original data. “And we thought, we have to investigate it,” he said.
In total, they found homes ranging between 0.8 and more than 3 inches, mainly in Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside, and at two buildings in Miami Beach – the Faena Hotel and L’atelier condo – and one in Bal Harbour.
It’s not known what that means or whether slow drowning can cause long-term damage, but several experts told the Herald that the study raises questions that require further research and a more thorough investigation into the area.
“These findings raise another question that needs further investigation,” Gregor Eberli, professor of geoscience and co-author of the study, published Friday in the journal Earth and Space Science, said in a statement. Lead author Farzaneh Aziz Zanjani pointed out the need for “continued monitoring and a deeper understanding of the long-term implications of these trends.”
Although the majority of damaged buildings were built years or decades before satellite images were taken, it is common for buildings to subside a few centimeters during and shortly after construction – a natural process as the weight of the building presses down on the soil.
And immersion does not mean creating structural issues.
“Everything is fine, everything is in order,” said Chinowsky, putting his hands on each other’s sides, “problems start when you start doing this,” he said, moving one hand down faster than the other.
But such uneven absorption, known as diversity, can cause significant damage to infrastructure, he said. “That’s where you can get structural damage,” he said. More research is needed to determine whether the buildings that are sinking are balanced or not.
Uncertain results
“Sometimes it can be dangerous, sometimes not – it should be investigated,” said Shimon Wdowinski, a geophysicist at Florida International University, told the Herald. Wdowinski worked on a study that showed that the land around the Champlain Towers – not the buildings themselves – had been declining back in the 90s, although that alone could not have caused the collapse. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has yet to release a final report on the cause, but the Herald’s investigation revealed design and construction flaws as well as decades of repairs.
The tallest building dominates the Miami-Dade County beach skyline, from Sunny Isles Beach down to Miami Beach. A new study by researchers at the University of Miami shows as many as 35 buildings in the area were submerged by up to three inches between 2016 and 2023.
There are 35 buildings that have been shown to be sinking in the study of the University of Miami, he said, the next step is to check the integrity and production plans. “If there’s a breakdown, it can cause damage to the structure, and it needs to be looked at quickly,” he said.
Cracks in the walls, broken appliances, or doors and windows that don’t close as easily as they used to are signs of instability, said Gangarao Hota, professor of engineering and director of the facility’s facility at West. University of Virginia.
“In some extreme cases, buildings at one point sink more and more over time,” he said. If this decline is different, “so much, much worse,” Hota said.
Cities respond to learning
Larisa Svechin, the mayor of Sunny Isles Beach, where more than 20 buildings were damaged, said “the most important thing is the safety of our residents.” When contacted by the Herald newspaper on Saturday afternoon, he said he did not know anything about the situation but called an immediate meeting with the city manager. After the meeting, he said that all property inspections are underway and that “the law also requires inspection records to be posted online and shared with residents.”
Charles Burkett, the mayor of Surfside, told the Miami Herald that he had not heard of the study or was unaware of the property’s decline. “I want to know if it’s unsafe,” he said on Saturday, adding that he would “investigate.” [the study] at the right time.”
Other officials could not immediately be reached, and several properties contacted by the Herald newspaper said executives could not be reached for comment before Monday.
Some settlement seems to have started at a time when the construction of new buildings nearby began, and when the vibration may have caused the pieces of sand to expand – like shaking the bottom of the coffee tin to give room for expansion. The pumping of groundwater into construction sites can also cause sand to move and reorganize.
Although there seems to be a strong link to the nearby construction of other buildings, it cannot be the only explanation for the 35 sinking buildings, as some settlements started before construction began nearby, and continued after construction was completed, researchers found. . “There is no indication that it has stopped,” Amelung said of the settlement.
It is a possible connection of the climate
Experts have also highlighted the impact of oil spills and climate change on the overall stability of the Miami-Dade Islands.
First, rising sea levels are seeping into the sand and lime beneath our feet. This can lead to the decay of the pillars that stand on high ground – a serious issue, Hota said, although “there may be a way to save these buildings,” by repairing the foundation.
Strong currents, freshwater runoff from rainwater and other solar flooding can also increase erosion of the limestone that all of South Florida is built on, Chinowsky said.
Already soft rock that is full of holes and air pockets, further erosion could damage the foundations of many buildings, Chinowsky said, likening it to “standing on sand, and somebody brought a spoon and started scooping out sand.”
“I would expect that they would see this all in the protective islands and all the way up the coast – wherever there is limestone, really,” he said. “That’s what makes the whole area of South Florida so unique, because of that porous rock, that limestone, all that stuff that’s happening where you can’t see it, that’s why it’s never counted to this level,” he said.
This climate report is sponsored by Florida International University, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the David and Christina Martin Family Foundation in association with Journalism Funding Partners. The Miami Herald retains control of all content.
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University of Miami researchers say sea level rise may be causing an unexpected decline in infrastructure from the Sunny Isles to Miami Beach.