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A pet cat lost in the Surfside condominium collapse last month was found safe and returned to its family.
Binx the Cat, who lived on the ninth floor of the Champlain Towers South condominium, was found near the rubble of the building Thursday (July 8) night, the Associated Press reports.
Gina Nicole Vlasek, co-founder of The Kitty Campus, posted about a black cat resembling Binx being found at the site and brought to the group's facility in Miami Beach, which a former Champlain Towers South resident confirmed was her feline.
Binx was returned to its owner on Friday (July 9), Vlasek confirmed.
“We are so grateful to be able to help in any small way,” Vlasek wrote.
Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava confirmed Binx was recognized by a volunteer who had fed cats near the site where the condominium collapsed on June 24.
“I’m glad that this small miracle could bring some light into the lives of a grieving family today and could provide a bright spot for our whole community in the midst of this terrible tragedy,” Levine Cava said.
The mayor said animal control workers have continued to place live traps in an effort to recover pets that might have escaped during the deadly collapse.
On Saturday, Florida Fire Marshall and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis confirmed the death toll from the Surfside, Florida condominium collapse rose to 86.
Mayor Levine Cava also confirmed crews paused briefly on Saturday morning due to lightning, but resumed recovery efforts within an hour and are expected to continue throughout the day despite rain being forecasted in the area, the mayor confirmed.
The Surfside condo was built in 1982 and going through its 40-year recertification prior to its collapse last month, requiring an engineer to ensure the building's structural and electrical safety, often leading to the need for costly repairs.
A structural field survey report conducted by an engineer in October 2018 revealed evidence of "major structural damage" to the concrete slab below the pool deck and "abundant" cracking and crumbling of the columns, beams and walls of the parking garage under the building, the New York Times reports.
The field survey led to plans for a multimillion-dollar repair project that was scheduled to begin soon -- more than two and a half years after the building managers received a warning -- prior to the collapse.
The complex's management association had disclosed some of the problems following the incident on Thursday, but the full nature of the concrete and rebar damage was not made public until the 2018 report was released by city officials on June 25.
“Though some of this damage is minor, most of the concrete deterioration needs to be repaired in a timely fashion,” the consultant, Frank Morabito, wrote about damage to the building in the 2018 report.
Morabito didn't give any indication that the structure was at risk of collapse, but did note that it needed repairs in order to maintain "the structural integrity" of the building and its 136 condos.