I've periodically written about the ocean sailing jaunts that I've taken with my cousin Jim Kaplan, who has a small motor boat/ sailboat, the Flying Fish III. Jim has worked in the marine industry for several decades, probably at least 30 years, dealing with the general public, but also the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard. He's a very bright guy and knows the subject well, especially having grown up in the Indiana Dunes on Lake Michigan in northern Indiana. (This photo above is from a previous sail, one that turned out to be a bit misguided since a mini-squall decided to blow in.)
We took another of our cruises yesterday, and the subject of the tragic disaster in Florida came up. It was initially addressed because of my concern of where his mother and her husband lived. (Side note: his mother Elaine just celebrated her 100th birthday this past Monday. That that wasn't a unique occurrence in the household, though -- her husband Mark turned 100 last November. They have a lot of candles in the cupboards.) Happily, they don't live on the east coast of Florida. But that moved the discussion to the collapse of the apartment complex and what could have caused it. While this isn't the specific area of Jim's expertise, it's related to his field and his study and concerns over the years, and he had some initial thoughts of possibilities. To be very clear, what I'll describe below is NOT Jim's words, but my paraphrasing of them. Anything I get wrong is entirely my error and not his. He knows what he's talking about -- I don't. Jim said that he could think of three possibilities, though added that there could certainly be other causes, noting that these are just his ramblings of what could conceivably have caused the disaster The first was manmade, that there had been some issue with the construction of the complex which had been overlooked in cursory building inspections over the years, since such things aren't generally what are looked for. (Rather, he said, inspectors tend to focus on whatever caused the most recent disaster.) And so, finally, after years, the problem manifested itself. The other two possibilities are related. (They also have more scientific reasoning behind them and are the ones which I'm more likely not to explain exactly right.) One is that over the years, the water level rose -- perhaps related to Climate Change, and the melting of the ice caps). This would had more salt water to the area and more water pressure, which in turn could increase the erosion of land, which exposes the metal support structure, and corrosion of that metal by the salt water. The other is that as more people have moved to the southern Florida area, more fresh water has been needed, and so it's been piped into the area for nearby sources. (I think he said the Everglades, but I won't swear to that.) And since nature abhors a vacuum, the ocean's water will move to fill that void, thereby lowering the water level. This can expose the land more, leading to its erosion, and again making the metal structure more vulnerable to corrosion by the salt water. The only thing he said he is sure of is that corrosion of steel reinforcement ( known as rebar) in concrete can destroy the integrity of a structure. I'll repeat the disclaimer. This is me remembering his more-detailed explanation and interpreting it the best I can. The larger point that Jim made (the accuracy of my recollection aside) was that of these three possibilities, the "best" would be the first, since it's manmade. As terrible as such a reason would be, the cause would be limited to work done by that individual construction. The other two explanations are more problematic because they relate to environmental damage done to the land of the entire coastal area. Again, there could be other reasons for what caused the apartment complex to collapse, and he notes that these "ramblings" are only what may have occurred -- or not. And that the study to follow will find out for certain. But as a starting point, these were three initial possibilities for finding what might have caused such a disaster to ensure it doesn't happen again.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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